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| Title: | Space Exploration |
| Notice: | Shuttle launch schedules, see Note 6 |
| Moderator: | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN |
|
| Created: | Mon Feb 17 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 974 |
| Total number of notes: | 18843 |
898.0. "Space Mission Failures" by JVERNE::KLAES (Be Here Now) Wed Apr 06 1994 15:04
Article: 3898
From: [email protected] (Reuter/Deborah Zabarenko)
Newsgroups: clari.news.top,clari.tw.space
Subject: 271 Space Missions Failed or Malfunctioned - Study
Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 10:10:26 PDT
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Since the Space Age began, 271 missions
have failed or malfunctioned and two-thirds of the failures were Soviet,
a new study reported Tuesday.
Of the 271 missions cited in the study, 108 were considered
failures. They included infamous tragedies, such as the 1986 shuttle
Challenger disaster, as well as less costly, unstaffed missions that
went awry.
The study by the Virginia-based Teal space consulting group
said an estimated 71 of the payload failures since 1958 -- the dawning
of the space age with the launching of Soviet ''sputniks'' into Earth
orbit -- were Soviet in origin. Thirty-four of the failures were American.
The study listed only failures and malfunctions, and did not
give the total number of successful space missions.
The most failure-prone spacecraft over the 36 years appears
to be the Soviet-made Cosmos satellite.
``The Cosmos have a record of short lifetimes, often
exploding within months of their deployment,'' analyst Marco Caceres
said in a statement. The study did not say why this occurred.
Cosmos satellites, designed mostly for military missions such
as early warning or reconnaissance, accounted for more than half of
the Soviet Union's payload failures.
Ironically, most of the U.S. payload failures occurred during
the 1960s, often considered the Golden Age of the American space program.
About one dozen of these failures were unstaffed planetary
probes in that decade, but three major missions failed in 1992 and
1993: the Mars Observer spacecraft lost contact with Earth due to a
fuel-line explosion, and the NOAA-13 and Landsat 6 Earth observation
satellites were also lost.
From 1970 through January 1994, the study said, five
launchers were involved in the bulk of the failures: Russia's Proton,
with nine failures; General Dynamics' Atlas, with eight; Martin
Marietta's Titan and Arianespace's Ariane, with seven each; and
McDonnell Douglas' Delta, with six.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had no
specific comment on the report but one official said the failure and
malfunction figures were not in dispute.
The study was released on the same day that Russia announced
plans to develop a new giant booster rocket that would be safer and
less polluting, while NASA pushed ahead with plans to launch space
shuttle Endeavour on Friday following a safety inspection of the
craft's engines.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 898.1 | percentages would be more revealing | AUSSIE::GARSON | Hotel Garson: No Vacancies | Wed Apr 06 1994 21:59 | 8 |
| re .0
That's all very well but no mention is made of the number of missions
that were not failures/malfunctions. 271 failures/malfunctions versus
200 successes? 500 successes? 1000 successes?
Also it's not surprising that the Soviets lead in the absolute number
of failures since they launch more than everyone else put together (?).
|
| 898.2 | But they launched LOTSA Cosmos satellites | TFH::ANGELOTTI | | Tue Apr 12 1994 17:15 | 6 |
|
As far as the Soviet (now Russian?) Cosmos high failure rate, is this
because they've launched soooo many of 'em, hundreds if I'm not mistaken?
This would make the absolute no. of failures high, but the overall ratio
of failures to launches might not be any worse than other types or other
countries. Does anyone know how many have made it into orbit?
|
| 898.3 | Launch statistics from NASA | BCFI02::GIMLE | Bj�rn Gimle @VLB | Tue Aug 16 1994 07:59 | 47 |
| The following table has been extracted from the June-94 issue of
NASA Satellite Situation Report, available at the NASA GSFC OIG BBS
on +1-301-262 6784
SOURCE/ORGANIZATION OBJECTS IN ORBIT DECAYED OBJECTS
PAYLOAD DEBRIS TOTAL PAYLOAD DEBRIS TOTAL
ARGNT = ARGENTINA 1 0 1 0 0 0
ASCO = ARAB SAT. COMM. ORG. 0 0 0 0 0 0
ASIASA = ASIASAT CORP. 0 0 0 0 0 0
AUSTRL = AUSTRALIA 6 1 7 1 0 1
BRAZIL = BRAZIL 4 0 4 0 0 0
CANADA = CANADA 16 0 16 1 0 1
CZECH = CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1 0 1 1 0 1
ESA = EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY 24 137 161 4 454 458
ESRO = EURO. SPACE RES. ORG. 0 0 0 7 3 10
FR/FRG = FRANCE/FED. REP. GER. 2 0 2 0 0 0
FRANCE = FRANCE 23 18 41 7 59 66
FRG = FEDERAL REPUBLIC GER. 14 2 16 5 5 10
IMSO = INT. MARIT. SAT. ORG. 3 0 3 0 0 0
INDIA = INDIA 10 3 13 6 8 14
INDO = INDONESIA 6 0 6 1 1 2
ISRAEL = ISRAEL 0 0 0 2 2 4
ITALY = ITALY 4 0 4 5 0 5
ITSO = INT. TELEC. SAT. ORG. 44 0 44 1 0 1
JAPAN = JAPAN 50 51 101 10 74 84
KOREA = KOREA 2 0 2 0 0 0
LUXBRG = LUXEMBOURG 3 2 5 0 0 0
MEXICO = MEXICO 3 0 3 0 0 0
NATO = NORTH AT. TREATY ORG. 7 2 9 0 0 0
NETH = NETHERLANDS 0 0 0 1 3 4
PAKI = PAKISTAN 0 0 0 1 0 1
PORTUG = PORTUGAL 1 0 1 0 0 0
PRC = PEOPLES REP. OF CHINA 13 80 93 23 78 101
SAUDI = SAUDI ARABIA 3 0 3 0 0 0
SPAIN = SPAIN 3 0 3 0 0 0
SWEDEN = SWEDEN 3 0 3 0 0 0
THAIL = THAILAND 1 0 1 0 0 0
UK = UNITED KINGDOM 18 1 19 8 4 12
US = UNITED STATES 638 2737 3375 648 2873 3521
USSR = RUSSIA 1293 2418 3711 1613 9598 11211
COLUMN 2196 5452 7648 2345 13162 15507
SUM TOTAL 23155
=========================================================
Bj�rn (Bjoern) Gimle, Digital BCFI AB, Sweden
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