Rocket LabHis Electron rocket will likely return to flight by the end of the year, but the work is not yet complete before the mission resumes, according to a new statement released Wednesday.
Rocket Lab announced it has received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume Electron launches from its New Zealand launch facility, but that doesn’t mean regulators have given the green light. Rocket Lab must complete an investigation into the anomaly that led to the Sept. 19 mission failure and implement an FAA-approved accident investigation plan to ensure the problem is resolved.
“Rocket Lab is currently in the final stages of a thorough investigation into the root cause of the anomaly. This process includes examining an extensive fault tree to cover all potential causes of the anomaly and This includes completing a comprehensive test campaign for reproduction on the ground,” the company said in a statement.
Standard practice after a rocket launch failure is for a company-led accident investigation to be conducted under the supervision and approval of the FAA. Rocket Lab said a full review is expected to be completed “in the coming weeks.”
Rocket Lab has not said anything about the cause of the September failure that led to the loss of Capella Space’s synthetic aperture radar satellite. The problem occurred shortly after the second stage’s single-engine Rutherford engine ignited, approximately two and a half minutes after liftoff. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement that given Electron’s flight history, “a failure would be a complex and extremely rare problem that has never occurred in any previous test or flight.” He just said he knew.
An anomaly occurred during Rocket Lab 41.cent Electron firing. Before the anomaly, the company had completed 20 consecutive orbital launches.
Source: techcrunch.com
