The details will not be known until the end of the investigations, but the general cause has been identified: it was an engine failure that prevented the Astra rocket from carrying out its mission. Leaving from the Cape Canaveral launch base in Florida, the launcher failed to reach the desired orbit due to an incident during the last part of the flight.
« We had a nominal flight from the first floor. The upper stage shut down prematurely and we did not put the payloads into orbit », reacted Astra on Twitter on June 12 at the end of the day. It’s basically an engine failure. The good news, however, is that the entire first segment of the flight went smoothly.
Of them cubesats dedicated to Earth observation have been lost
The payload, now lost, included two TROPICS 3U cubesats (small cube-shaped satellites) which were to inaugurate a new mini-constellation of nanosatellites for NASA. These machines were to be positioned in a low Earth orbit, at an altitude of approximately 600 km.
La constellation TROPICS (pour Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) est un ensemble de six cubesats dedicated to Earth observation and various phenomena, including precipitation patterns and storm intensity. In particular, the TROPICS are interested in tropical cyclones.
« We have expressed our regrets to NASA and the payload team “Astra apologized following this failure. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, was conciliatorystating that ” Although today’s launch with Astra did not go as planned, the mission provided a great opportunity for new science and launch capabilities. »
The loss of these two cubesats is disabling for the entire TROPICS mission, but relatively bearable — the cubesats are low-cost devices whose design is infinitely more affordable than a project like the James Webb Telescope. Their replacement, if decided, will not significantly burden the budget of the American space agency.
The other two TROPICS launches are expected in June and July 2022 – the loss of the first two TROPICS satellites could however disrupt the schedule, with a postponement of the next two launches. Astra needs to identify the anomaly that shut down the second-stage motorization too soon, so it can’t happen again in the future.
As of June 12, this was the ninth flight for Astra, including its first two tests. However, only two missions have been completed successfully and without possible dispute: a flight in November 2021 and another in March 2022. All other attempts have ended in failure.
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