Last second launch abort on Delta IV Heavy launch

Flyaway said:
Another launch abort.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311533156965715968
View: https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1311533156965715968


We experienced an automated abort because a sensor reported a fault. Automated Safety System operated as intended. Bird and payload are safe and unharmed. Engine ROFI ignitors were not fired. Turbo pumps were not spun up. Mission safety first...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

At least they are taking safety seriously, I would not like a large rocket like the Delta IV Heavy to blow up on the launch pad due to a faulty Turbo pump.
 
ULA & the NRO must feel like this launch is cursed. I think it will now have to wait on Space X’s GPS launch.
 
Flyaway said:
ULA & the NRO must feel like this launch is cursed. I think it will now have to wait on Space X’s GPS launch.
Click to expand...
SpaceX's latest Starlink launch has bumped what, four times now?
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1311706960014782467
View: https://twitter.com/kevinmulhall/status/1311706960014782467


Since Vulcan and Atlas are, as I understand it going to use SLC-41, is there a resistance to maintenance expenditures on that SLC-37 pad? Fewer and fewer launches planned there and the temptation to cut corners seems high.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311719294041022468
View: https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1311719294041022468


No. Pads have preventative maintenance and an activation with lots of testing before the launch. The ground systems that had issues here were PM'ed and tested. However, every pad is complex and different. We made adjustments in the DeltaII fly out. Will do the same here.
Click to expand...
 
Next launch attempt will be Fri Oct 16, 2020 02:00 UTC

SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA
 
Flyaway said:
Next launch attempt will be Fri Oct 16, 2020 02:00 UTC

SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA
Click to expand...

Let's hope that the launch is successful this time round and that there are no more scrubs due to internal problems of the Delta IV Heavy.
 
FighterJock said:
Flyaway said:
Next launch attempt will be Fri Oct 16, 2020 02:00 UTC

SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA
Click to expand...

Let's hope that the launch is successful this time round and that there are no more scrubs due to internal problems of the Delta IV Heavy.
Click to expand...

All these problems have been pad issues, not internal to the vehicle.
 
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
Flyaway said:
Next launch attempt will be Fri Oct 16, 2020 02:00 UTC

SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA
Click to expand...

Let's hope that the launch is successful this time round and that there are no more scrubs due to internal problems of the Delta IV Heavy.
Click to expand...

All these problems have been pad issues, not internal to the vehicle.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling ULA will be glad to see the back of this pad as Vulcan will not be using it
 
Flyaway said:
TomS said:
FighterJock said:
Flyaway said:
Next launch attempt will be Fri Oct 16, 2020 02:00 UTC

SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, USA
Click to expand...

Let's hope that the launch is successful this time round and that there are no more scrubs due to internal problems of the Delta IV Heavy.
Click to expand...

All these problems have been pad issues, not internal to the vehicle.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling ULA will be glad to see the back of this pad as Vulcan will not be using it
Click to expand...

That is good news, I cannot wait for the Vulcan rocket to enter service.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1316057741723607042
View: https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1316057741723607042


We have adjusted the #DeltaIVHeavy #NROL44 launch planning date from 10/15 to 10/23 to allow our team to perform additional analysis and data monitoring of ground systems to ensure they continue to perform nominally.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1316123812371595264
View: https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1316123812371595264


The issue that caused the automated abort is understood and resolved. A sensor incorrectly reported that a valve in the RS68A was not in the flight position. We have implemented a change that will better verify its position. Currently working thru an issue with pad hydraulics
Click to expand...
 
Guess what another scrub for ULA & the NRO. Again an issue with the GSE.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1324121283949461508
View: https://twitter.com/emrekelly/status/1324121283949461508


SCRUB! No NROL-101 launch today. Next attempt in 48 hours.
Click to expand...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1324121591362584576
View: https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1324121591362584576


Mission Director Col. Chad Davis has declared a scrub. ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has relayed the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight. We will be postured for another attempt in 48 hours. time.bit.ly/av-nrol101
Click to expand...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1324124648347521025
View: https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1324124648347521025


Almost there, but ran out of time. We will be back in 48 hours
Click to expand...
 
An update on the NROL-44 mission.

spacenews.com

SpaceX to transition to fully reusable fleet for national security launches

“Over the next 18 months we’ll complete the transition to a fully reusable SpaceX fleet for our national security missions,” said Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the Space and Missile Systems Cen…
spacenews.com spacenews.com

Bongiovi [Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise] said he remains concerned about the setbacks suffered by ULA’s Delta 4 Heavy rocket in attempting to launch the NROL-44 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

“I think this is an unfortunate delay,” he said.
Click to expand...

“We never like to have a launch vehicle and a satellite sitting so long,” Bongiovi said. “But we need to make sure we launch when we’re ready,” he said. The priority is to “make sure this launch is successful.”
Click to expand...

“We’ve always had fly-out concerns on the Delta 4 Heavy,” said Bongiovi. However, he said, the risk of moving sensitive NRO payloads to another launch vehicle is “much higher than the risk of flying out Delta 4 Heavy. I still think that’s true.”
Click to expand...
 
Gimme a break, that thing still hasn't launched ? Maybe we should call it "the covid rocket". Well, this is 2020, after all: everything seems to break down this year. Mankind mental sanity as much as classic rockets. Small Vega or big Delta IV. Maybe it is a sign of time: only SpaceX boosters keep working properly.

Reminds me of Titan IV vaning days, 1995-2005. That rocket ended as a "hangar queen" just like that peculiar Delta IV.

So much for EELVs being an improvement over both Titan IV and Shuttle. Also competitors to Ariane 5. Atlas V maybe, but Delta IV, really...
 
Archibald said:
Gimme a break, that thing still hasn't launched ? Maybe we should call it "the covid rocket". Well, this is 2020, after all: everything seems to break down this year. Mankind mental sanity as much as classic rockets. Small Vega or big Delta IV. Maybe it is a sign of time: only SpaceX boosters keep working properly.

Reminds me of Titan IV vaning days, 1995-2005. That rocket ended as a "hangar queen" just like that peculiar Delta IV.

So much for EELVs being an improvement over both Titan IV and Shuttle. Also competitors to Ariane 5. Atlas V maybe, but Delta IV, really...
Click to expand...
As someone posted on NSF as long as it doesn’t get allocated a building number...
 
Archibald said:
Gimme a break, that thing still hasn't launched ? Maybe we should call it "the covid rocket". Well, this is 2020, after all: everything seems to break down this year. Mankind mental sanity as much as classic rockets. Small Vega or big Delta IV. Maybe it is a sign of time: only SpaceX boosters keep working properly.

Reminds me of Titan IV vaning days, 1995-2005. That rocket ended as a "hangar queen" just like that peculiar Delta IV.

So much for EELVs being an improvement over both Titan IV and Shuttle. Also competitors to Ariane 5. Atlas V maybe, but Delta IV, really...
Click to expand...
How many EELV's put multi-billion dollar national assets into the ocean? At least by the time I left the program in 2012 they'd only put a block of concrete and one other payload in the wrong orbit. They were less expensive than Titan and the Shuttle, and hadn't catastrophically failed. By those metrics over the course of at least the first decade and a half the program it was a success.

Now, with a decade of SpaceX launch success (98/2), hindsight is 20/20. A decade ago there were some interesting, friendly, sometimes heated discussions in the office about why Elon would succeed/couldn't ever succeed. Now, in all fairness to my former colleagues, they spent a whole lot of years maturing the space launch industry and knew the right way to do things, learned by hard experience gained from years worked in the business longer than most of us O-3's were alive (mostly thinking of the Aerospace Corp. guys). That said, just about every industry with low risk tolerance, that deals with dangerous things has a lot of inertia built up from years of building a safety/mission assurance culture. All this diatribe to say, it takes time and space to turn a supertanker

Lastly, Delta is in the sunset of it's lifecycle, poor reliability and delays are pretty much the norm for any program near the end of its life.
 
Flyaway said:
This launcher has now been sitting on the pad for a year as it was assembled particularly early for this launch.
Click to expand...

Any ideas as to when they are going to launch the rocket now? For it to be sitting on the launch pad for a year is ridiculous to say the least. The BBC censors would have a field day as to what I am currently thinking about this whole disaster of a launch. :mad:
 
FighterJock said:
Flyaway said:
This launcher has now been sitting on the pad for a year as it was assembled particularly early for this launch.
Click to expand...

Any ideas as to when they are going to launch the rocket now? For it to be sitting on the launch pad for a year is ridiculous to say the least. The BBC censors would have a field day as to what I am currently thinking about this whole disaster of a launch. :mad:
Click to expand...
The thinking over on NSF seems to be that was assembled early as ULA may have wanted floor space in their factory for Vulcan. But that’s just speculation as it could be other reasons we don’t know being as it’s a classified payload. I don’t think there’s been any updates if it will launch this year.
 
FighterJock said:
So in other words it could be delayed into next year.
Click to expand...
Yes I would say that’s certainly a possibility. It definitely appears to be the launchpad rather than anything wrong with the rocket itself.
 

Similar threads

Please donate to support the forum.

Back
Top Bottom