On 12/03/2024 19:24 Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

Kairos' Maiden Flight, Space One's launch from Kii Spaceport,
(Northern) Japan, only lasted a few seconds. The video stream showed
the clouds of smoke from the debris fire casting ominous shadows on the
pad {ominous is my contribution).

This rocket used 3 solid stages with a liquid-fueled kickstage. Solids
avoid the difficulty of building an orbital-class turbopump, but space
is still hard.

/dps

--
"That's a good sort of hectic, innit?"

" Very much so, and I'd recommend the haggis wontons."
-njm

I think it was simply poorly executed. We've had similar failures which were traced to the hydrophilic nature of the solid fuel. This resulted in the fuel becoming brittle and a huge surface area for the fuel to burn resulting in an explosion.

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Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

NSF reports that the flight termination was used.

Indeed:

"The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the
achievement of its mission would be difficult," company
president Masakazu Toyoda said.
Space One did not specify what triggered self-destruction
after the first-stage engine ignited - or when the company would
launch the next Kairos - only pledging an investigation into the
explosion.
The company said that the launch is highly automated,
requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket
self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed
or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people
on the ground.
-- https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japans-space-one-counts-down-inaugural-kairos-rocket-launch-2024-03-12/

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On 14/03/2024 13:09 om@iki.fi (Otto J. Makela)
wrote:

Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

NSF reports that the flight termination was used.

Indeed:

"The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the
achievement of its mission would be difficult," company
president Masakazu Toyoda said.
Space One did not specify what triggered self-destruction
after the first-stage engine ignited - or when the company would
launch the next Kairos - only pledging an investigation into the
explosion.
The company said that the launch is highly automated,
requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket
self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed
or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people
on the ground.
-- https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japans-space-one-counts-down-inaugural-kairos-rocket-launch-2024-03-12/

How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean, the avionics can steer the rocket, right?

Could be a programming error in the FTS.

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The Running Man <runningman@writeable.com> wrote:

How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean,
the avionics can steer the rocket, right?

Could be a programming error in the FTS.

Could be. In a wider-view video I think you could see the rocket
beginning to veer to the side even within those 5 seconds,
which might indicate some kind of a systemic error.

https://youtu.be/Fq0zDjQEIHE
--
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