Moscow. August 28. INTERFAX.RU – The American private aerospace company Astra was unable to launch a Rocket-3 rocket with a demonstration payload as part of a test flight program under an agreement with the US Department of Defense into Earth orbit due to a failure in the control system, follows from the Nasaspaceflight broadcast.
“The flight was interrupted by the control system in the first second after launch, the engines started successfully, but the control system interrupted the launch,” a company spokesman said.
Astra noted that the launch will be postponed until tomorrow. If the company is unable to launch the rocket tomorrow, then the launch can be postponed to the date within the launch window until September 11. At the moment, experts are looking for the reasons for the system misfire.
The engines were launched at 0:45 Moscow time at the Kodiak cosmodrome in Alaska, but a few seconds after ignition, the flight was interrupted by the system.
The company previously signed an agreement with the US Space Force (part of the US Department of Defense) for two test flights with a payload mockup. If both flights are successful, Astra will become the Pentagon's contractor as part of the program to launch military satellites into Earth orbit.
The first test launch in March 2020 ended in failure – during prelaunch, a valve jammed, which led to a rocket fire. The next launch in September 2020 also ended in failure – a software glitch caused the rocket to crash. During the most recent launch in December last year, the rocket was able to reach an altitude of 390 km above the Earth, but due to problems with fuel, it was unable to enter orbit.
The main advantage of the rocket over competitors is its accelerated preparation for launch – it takes no more than a week to prepare the launch site, and the entire rocket and related ground systems can be delivered to the launch site in cargo containers.
In theory, Rocket-3 rockets are capable of launching a payload weighing up to 150 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of about 500 kilometers. This year, three missile launches of this type are planned.
