Conference 7.286::space

82.0. "ESA's ARIANE 3 Rocket Destroyed" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Mon Sep 16 1985 10:57

Associated Press Fri 13-SEP-1985 20:01                          Ariane Rocket

   KOUROU, French Guiana (AP) - The third-stage engine of Europe's
Ariane-3 rocket failed to ignite properly, forcing ground control
to destroy the craft and its $150 million payload of satellites,
officials said Friday.
   Technicians sent the self-destruct command less than 10 minutes
after the launch Thursday when the rocket veered off course and
began to fall.
   A statement released by Arianespace, commercial arm of the
European Space Agency, said the reason for the engine failure had
not been determined.
   It said the combustion chamber of Ariane's third stage failed to
ignite ``eight minutes and four seconds after the extinction of the
second stage.''
   An ``abnormal'' ignition took place in the combustion chamber
0.4 seconds late, causing the engine to stop, the statement added.
   It was the third failure in 15 launches of the Ariane, the main
commercial challenger of the U.S. Space Shuttle, and came after
nine successful shots.
   The rocket carried two telecommunications satellites, one
American and one European. It blasted off on schedule at 8:26 p.m.
(7:26 p.m. EDT) Thursday from the agency's base in Kourou on the
northeast shoulder of South America.
   But, as visiting President Francois Mitterrand of France
followed the rocket's progress on a video display terminal in the
control room at Kourou, the trajectory began to sag.
   Nine minutes and 52 seconds after liftoff, and about 10 minutes
before it would have put the satellites into orbit, technicians had
to send a self-destruct signal when it became clear Ariane would
fall to Earth in an inhabited area of Brazil.
   The rocket's third stage was to put the satellites into fixed
orbits over Earth.
   The American Spacenet-3 satellite, built by RCA for
GTE-Spacenet, was insured for $85 million and the European
Communications Satellite, ECS-3, for $65 million.
   David Thompson of GTE-Spacenet said, ``Our principal customers
were GTE-Sprint and Argo, a communications company. All of their
requirements will be satisfied with the current satellites we have
in orbit, Spacenet 1-2 and GSTAR-1.'' Those three satellites were
launched on Ariane rockets.
   Besides being a direct rival of America's Space Shuttle, the
Ariane program is big business and a matter of European pride.
France is Ariane's main backer and sees itself as the leader in
Europe's technology of the future.
   Thursday's failure will not immediately affect business because
Arianespace is booked solid for the next four years.
   But in the longer term, negative consequences could result.
   The Europeans claim Ariane is more reliable than the Space
Shuttle because it puts satellites directly into orbit. The shuttle
takes satellites out over the Earth and then boosts them into orbit
- two operations and double the risk, the Europeans contend.
Thursday's failure weakened that argument.
   ``It is obviously a great disappointment,'' Frederic d'Allest,
president of Arianespace, told a news conference at the space
center. ``There was not any danger to the population.''
   Mitterrand added: ``It will work the next time. History is like
that.''
   Experts in Europe and launch technicians, contractors,
sub-contractors and other space agency officials in French Guiana
sifted data trying to see what went wrong. More than 900 pieces of
information were transmitted by the rocket to the ground.
   The next shots were scheduled for Nov. 15 and Dec. 11.
   The 11-nation European Space Agency has the stated goal of
capturing one-third of the satellite launching business by 1995.
The agency also has plans for a reusable manned spaceship smaller
than the Space Shuttle.
   Ariane has placed 14 satellites in orbit since June 1983.

From: [email protected] (Patt Haring)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Third Stage Engine:  Ariane Rocket
Date: 26 Feb 88 09:54:04 GMT
 
    THIRD-STAGE ENGINE FOR ARIANE ROCKET PASSES TEST - ARIANE ENGINE  
 
    PARIS (FEB. 25) - A third-stage engine for the European rocket
Ariane was test-fired Tuesday for a record time of 16 minutes and 40
seconds, without problems, an informed source said here Thursday. 
 
    The test was carried out on a test-bench of the European
Propulsion Company.  The motor is to undergo two more identical tests
in the next few days, the source said. 
 
    The engine burns oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and ignites only at
high altitude.  In normal flight, it is supposed to operate for only
720 to 725 seconds. 
 
    The testing is part of a program requested by the French National
Space Studies Center (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA),
following failure of Ariane flights blamed on the motor. 
   
Patt Haring                 {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth
Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator
 
    Three aspects of wisdom:  Intelligence, justice, and kindness.