[HN Gopher] NASA's ELaNa 41 launch possibly failed
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       NASA's ELaNa 41 launch possibly failed
        
       On board cameras showed 2nd stage spinning just after separation,
       then the live stream went dark.  Recorded stream here - failure
       starts at 1:02:30 with separation:
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jlQmW7mnYM&t=3740s  Edit: updated
       link.
        
       Author : squarefoot
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2022-02-10 20:12 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
       | jepler wrote:
       | "We experienced an issue during today's flight that resulted in
       | the payloads not being delivered to orbit.
       | 
       | We are deeply sorry to our customers @NASA and the small
       | satellite teams. More information will be provided after we
       | complete a data review."
       | 
       | https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1491868134713671684?cxt=HHw...
        
       | _Microft wrote:
       | The left view in [0] seems to be taken by a camera attached to
       | the booster/interstage, viewing forward while the right view
       | seems to be from a camera on the upper stage. A schematic of the
       | rocket was shown at [1] if you want to get an idea what the
       | rocket looks like.
       | 
       | After reviewing the separation sequence, I would say that fairing
       | separation failed. Right after MECO (main-engine cutoff) was
       | called out, there is white/blueish light appearing in front of
       | the upper stage. This makes me think that the fairing should have
       | opened at that moment but it did so only partially and that this
       | is sunlight shining through a gap. Shortly after, the upper stage
       | was separated from the lower stage and was pushed away until
       | being stopped by the still closed fairing. Then the upper engine
       | ignited and now actually pushed the second stage through the
       | fairing. God knows what was already damaged at that point.
       | 
       | Edit: it seems like this is exactly what happened. There is a
       | video [2] (made by Scott Manley) with a side by side view of two
       | stage separations which lets you see what should have happened
       | when. Just watch that.
       | 
       | [0] OPs link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jlQmW7mnYM&t=3740s
       | 
       | [1] https://youtu.be/8jlQmW7mnYM?t=2177
       | 
       | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-a_F6F2xo
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-10 23:02 UTC)