Orbital to inspect Antares’ Russian engines.
It appears that yesterday’s delay in the next Cygnus/Antares launch was to allow engineers time to inspect the rocket’s Russian engines.
They want to make sure that these engines do not have the same problem that caused another Russian engine to blow up on a test stand in May.
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It appears that yesterday’s delay in the next Cygnus/Antares launch was to allow engineers time to inspect the rocket’s Russian engines.
They want to make sure that these engines do not have the same problem that caused another Russian engine to blow up on a test stand in May.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Not to just bang away on Orbital but once they had their trouble with the exploding engine that they would have investigated the very next engines slated for launch first? I.E. the ones one the next rocket to go to space like this one.
Or are they just now getting around to inspecting the engines and this is the first one inspected?
Maybe they finally found the real problem and just want to second check this set for the problem now that they know what to look for.
Scrubbing a launch to do something that should have been done before is not good.
You are making incorrect assumptions about what Orbital has been doing in connection with these Russian engines.
All these Russian engines were inspected and refurbished prior to their installation in Antares. Thus, the engines that are in the Antares rocket scheduled for launch in July have already undergone the exact same tests that caused the engine in May to explode.
What has happened is that when they were testing that engine in May, something happened that caused it to blow up that had not occurred in any previous tests for identical engines. It appears that the investigation has figured out what went wrong, and they are simply being prudent by reinspecting the engines installed in Antares to make sure they don’t have this same problem.
What is not happening is Orbital doing “something that should have been done before.” It seems to me that this is an unfair criticism.
I know the engines have been refurbished and refitted.
Inspected and tested.
I am questioning if this is the first set of engines rechecked after the explosion or are they the last.
They should have been the first because there are the very next ones to be used. Unless they just found out what caused the explosion in the test and now want to check this set again for that problem.
The delay for this inspection should also have been set the day the explosion took place.
They did delay the early June launch already. At the time of the explosion they should have just said no more flights until each engine has been inspected and or tested.
This announcement this week would then not have been made.
Pretty much all they said this time was we are going to inspect this set of engines. And we are setting the next launch date for July. Unless…….
I;m questioning why this inspection wasn’t automatically done and why they waited until now to do it.
Did they find the reason for the first explosion(if so what was it)or are they just going through the motions to look good.