MIAMI: A last-minute rocket glitch forced SpaceX to abort a landmark bid on Tuesday to transform rocket science into a recyclable industry by landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 on an ocean platform.
The problem that led to the delay involved the rocket’s second stage, which is the portion that carries the cargo vessel to orbit after the first stage falls back to Earth.
“A thrust vector control actuator for the Falcon 9’s second stage failed to perform as expected, resulting in a launch abort,” said a NASA statement.
The California-based company headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk said it is aiming for another attempt on Friday at 5:09 am (1009 GMT) to launch the rocket and its Dragon cargo ship on a routine mission to supply the International Space Station.
Minutes after blast off, when the cargo ship is on its way to orbit, the experiment will begin. Instead of plummeting into the ocean, the rocket’s first stage engines should refire three times, guiding the 14-story tall portion of the Falcon 9 to land upright on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, some 200 miles off the coast of northern Florida.
“I have no idea,” Musk admitted on Reddit late on Monday, after initially giving the experiment a 50-50 chance of success.As of now, rocket launches cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more, largely because the rockets are allowed to fall in pieces into the ocean after liftoff, becoming trash.
Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2015
On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play
