The second time there was no charm. After the cancellation of the first Miura 1 launch attempt due to Huelva winds, the company pld spacein collaboration with National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) he had to abort the mission as soon as the countdown to launch ended.
It was 2:43 a.m. when the suborbital rocket, Arenosillo Experimental Station, in Huelva he signaled for an abortion. Thus, the company from Alicante should wait for a new attempt to make Spain the tenth country to successfully launch its own rocket.
After starting the engines, a malfunction was discovered which forced the Miura 1 to be grounded again. So the space base personnel set about securing the rocket to leave it ready for a future attempt and begin investigating what had happened.
Miura 1, a test of something much bigger
Actually, the Spanish rocket Miura 1 is Miura 5 predecessora fully retractable rocket that can reach a height of more than 500 kilometers and throw into space 1000-kilogram payloads designed to perform experiments in microgravity.
Miura 1 measures alone 12 meters highand Miura 5 will measure 30 meters long and 2 meters in diameter. Therefore, it can be considered almost as a practical model.
But before moving on to Miura 5, the benefits of which scheduled for 2025at least one more test will be done with the Miura 1. Test flights 12 minutes, as we would see today with this first Spanish rocket launch. However, subsequently the rocket will need to be returned. The ships Libertad and Nervio, which had been in a waiting position since about midnight, were supposed to take on this. It is expected to take several 4 hours approximately to get the rocket back and then it’s time to check it for damage.
almost perfect
In a previous attempt, Miura 1 launch was halted at go don’t govoting, which involves several components: rocket subsystems, launch pad and weather conditions. If everyone says they are ready, the launch continues. In this case, weather conditions were marked in red, which prevented the flight of this first Spanish rocket. But this time it could be. Ella go no go was fully marked in green and moved on to the next steps.
The launch of Miura 1 was scheduled within the window of from 1 to 10 am this Saturday, June 17th. However, we didn’t have to wait that long.
After fuel loading, last checks, start of telemetry recording and autosequence, engine ignition. It was at this point that the mission was declared aborted, although it is not yet known if this was deliberate PLD personnel or if it was a mistake by the Spanish missile that prevented the launch.
It’s time for Miura 1 scientists to analyze what happened, fix the bugs and decide on the next launch date. Hopefully this time yes, maybe the third time it’s a charm.
Source: Hiper Textual
