Author Topic: FAILURE : Epsilon F6 with RAISE-3 + 7 satellites - 12 October 2022 (00:50 UTC)  (Read 24816 times)

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+4 minutes.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+5 minutes. Second stage burnout.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+6 minutes.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+7 minutes. Third stage has should have ignited.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 01:01 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+8 minutes. Burnout should have occurred.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 12:59 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

X+7 minutes. Third stage has ignited.

Has it? Telemetry doesn't match that. Unless I'm reading that wrong.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 01:00 am by Jrcraft »
AE/ME
6 Suborbital spaceflight payloads. 14.55 minutes of in-space time.

Online Rocketdog2116

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Uhhhh. 3rd stage????

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+9 minutes.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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X+10 minutes.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 01:02 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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JAXA is ending their coverage.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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This was the last frame of telemetry at X+9 minutes 11 seconds. Velocity is 4.84 klm/s, which is not enough to be in orbit. Third stage burnout should have been at X+8 minutes and 2 seconds, with the first post boost ignition at X+16 minutes and 33 seconds.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 01:08 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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End of JAXA coverage.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

This was the last frame of telemetry at T+9 minutes 11 seconds. Velocity is 4.84 klm/s, which is not enough to be in orbit.

And that altitude was getting pretty low pretty fast. AKA the vehicle was gaining speed as it fell back to Earth. Looking at the previous Epsilon launch, the altitude and velocity are a really close match just after S2 burnout. But they diverge when S3 ignites (on the previous flight). We still had telemetry afterwards, so would indicate either ignition failure, or that ignition was inhibited by the onboard computer (rather than an energetic failure). Could be that the flight computer saw something it didn't like and aborted the ignition of that stage (tumbling)?
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 01:12 am by Jrcraft »
AE/ME
6 Suborbital spaceflight payloads. 14.55 minutes of in-space time.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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NVS is saying "Announcement with command destroy signal transmission."
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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Some launch images.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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Third stage ignition should have occurred at T+6 minutes 34 seconds, but the telemetry shows only a small increase in velocity and decreasing altitude as the vehicle falls back to Earth.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Rondaz

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LAUNCH of JAXA's Epsilon No. 6 from Uchinoura at 0050:43 UTC Oct 12 carrying RAISE-3, QPS-3, QPS-4 and five cubesats..

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1579998127259619329

Online ZachS09

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This is the first overall failure of Epsilon after five consecutive successes.

Hopefully, they’ll find the issue (most likely within the third stage) and correct it before the next flight.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Online Steven Pietrobon

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Looks like the vehicle was in the wrong attitude for stage 2/3 separation, which was scheduled for X+6 minutes and 30 seconds. The destruct command was sent at X+6 minutes and 28 seconds, two seconds before the separation.

https://www.jaxa.jp/press/2022/10/20221012-2_j.html

Establishment of a Response Headquarters Following the Failure of the Launch of Epsilon Rocket No. 6

October 12, Reiwa, 2022

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Epsilon rocket No. 6 equipped with Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration No. 3, QPS-SAR-3, and QPS-SAR-4 from the Uchinoura Space Observatory at 09:50:43 (Japan standard time) on October 12, 2022, but at the time of judging whether or not to separate the 2/3 stage, it deviated from the target attitude, Judging that it could not be put into orbit around the Earth, it sent a command and destruction signal to the rocket at 9:57:11, and the launch failed.
 We sincerely apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of the local community and everyone else involved, as well as those involved in the satellites on board.

Currently, we have established a task force headed by President Yamakawa and have begun investigating the cause.
 The status of the investigation will be announced at any time.
« Last Edit: 10/12/2022 05:14 am by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

From what I have seen about the post-launch press conference by Japanese sources, this more or less sums up what JAXA have reported so far:

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1580063544288346112

(the part about rocket not in correct attitude for 2nd/3rd stage separation is apparently shown on telemetry; whether the telemetry was reflecting true conditions needs to be investigated)
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

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