Isar Aerospace declared successful the launch of his Spectrum rocket to the north of Norway, but it was a Spanish company that somehow saved the day.
Context. The German company Isar Aerospace tried to launch the first private orbital rocket in Europe on Sunday. After lighting the nine engines of its first stage, the Spectrum rocket cleared the launch platform, located on the island of Andøya, north of Norway.
18 seconds later, Spectrum began to turn and correct its orientation orientation. Half a minute had passed from takeoff when the engines turned off and the rocket fell into the sea. The 28 -meter pitcher, loaded with propane and liquid oxygen, finished his inaugural flight with a great explosion.
The Spanish contribution. GTD, an engineering consultant based in Barcelona, was in charge of developing the launch control system (LCS) of the Andøya Space Puerto. This system supervises the countdown and flight safety of the Spectrum Spectrum of Isar Aerospace.
His role was fundamental in the rocket debut. Not only because the countdown worked perfectly, but because it successfully activated the flight termination system that made the rocket safely to the sea.
Flight termination system. Unlike other rockets, Spectrum does not call themselves when something goes wrong. Its flight termination system (FTS) consists of turning off the engines to prevent the rocket from getting out of its trajectory and, instead, falls controlled into the sea.
The Spanish company Software GTD successfully activated the flight termination system when the rocket lost control. The rocket turned off its engines and began to fall, without causing damage to the launch platform.
“We are proud to have demonstrated the reliability of our systems in such a symbolic mission for Europe in space,” Ricardo Bennasar, Coo by GTD, said in a statement. “It is a key step for future missions, and we are ready to continue supporting what is coming.”
The congratulation. Isar Aerospace congratulated the Spanish company privately for its role in launch. “We were able to validate our flight termination system,” said his CEO, Daniel Metzler, on Sunday.
Although the system is designed for exceptional situations, its correct execution is one of the many data collected by the German company for the second flight. Metzler has commented that they now know “the double” of what they knew before trying the rocket, in addition to confirming that the second and third Spectrum pitcher are already in production.
Image | Isar Aerospace
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