Weather scrubs first test of experimental vertical take-off/landing rocket built by Middle Eastern startup
The Middle East, showing the location of
Oman’s proposed spaceport at Duqm.
The first test flight of Horus-4, an experimental vertical take-off/landing rocket built by the Middle Eastern startup Advanced Rocket Technologies, was scrubbed yesterday supposedly due to weather.
The launch had been part of the first public event at Oman’s proposed Etlaq spaceport near the coastal city of Duqm.
Oman’s Etlaq spaceport opened its doors to the public for the first time on Monday, hosting a three-day fan zone experience designed to spark interest in space exploration among the country’s youth.
The event had originally been scheduled to culminate with the launch of the Horus-4 experimental rocket, developed by London company Advanced Rocket Technologies (ART). But unsuitable weather forced the test flight to be delayed, with a new launch date to be announced soon.
Pupils from across Duqm – a coastal town about 550km from Oman’s capital city of Muscat – took part in a variety of educational activities. The fan zone, called Etlaq FX, included four tents that were placed about 3km from the spaceport’s operations team and launch pad, with the site overlooking the Arabian Sea.
At the moment the Duqm spaceport is mostly a launch site for small suborbital rockets. Oman however is pushing hard to sell it to rocket companies, with launches of such small rockets by a variety of startups and Middle Eastern nations scheduled throughout the rest of this year.
Of those launches the most ambitious is that of Advanced Rocket Technologies Horus-4. If it flies and lands successfully, it will be a major technological achievement for the company, and the Arab part of the Middle East.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Middle East, showing the location of
Oman’s proposed spaceport at Duqm.
The first test flight of Horus-4, an experimental vertical take-off/landing rocket built by the Middle Eastern startup Advanced Rocket Technologies, was scrubbed yesterday supposedly due to weather.
The launch had been part of the first public event at Oman’s proposed Etlaq spaceport near the coastal city of Duqm.
Oman’s Etlaq spaceport opened its doors to the public for the first time on Monday, hosting a three-day fan zone experience designed to spark interest in space exploration among the country’s youth.
The event had originally been scheduled to culminate with the launch of the Horus-4 experimental rocket, developed by London company Advanced Rocket Technologies (ART). But unsuitable weather forced the test flight to be delayed, with a new launch date to be announced soon.
Pupils from across Duqm – a coastal town about 550km from Oman’s capital city of Muscat – took part in a variety of educational activities. The fan zone, called Etlaq FX, included four tents that were placed about 3km from the spaceport’s operations team and launch pad, with the site overlooking the Arabian Sea.
At the moment the Duqm spaceport is mostly a launch site for small suborbital rockets. Oman however is pushing hard to sell it to rocket companies, with launches of such small rockets by a variety of startups and Middle Eastern nations scheduled throughout the rest of this year.
Of those launches the most ambitious is that of Advanced Rocket Technologies Horus-4. If it flies and lands successfully, it will be a major technological achievement for the company, and the Arab part of the Middle East.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
How can you have a weather scrub in the desert?
Daily weather report–hot, dry and mostly calm–
repeat.
No haboobs to report than I could see.
According to the company website, the rescheduled launch is now supposed to take place at 1 AM Pacific time on the 30th. I don’t know what time that is in Oman – early afternoon most likely.
The Horus 4 appears to be only modestly larger than a lot of model rockets. It even uses solid rocket motors like model rockets do – three for ascent and one to land with. The three ascent motors have a total thrust of about 35 lbs. If the descent/landing engine is the same, it would produce a bit less than 12 lbs. of thrust. Don’t know if these are purchased hobbyist motors or in-house make. Maximum altitude is supposed to be 75 meters – roughly 250 feet. Seems a tad dicey to me so I don’t rate their chances of a fully-successful launch and landing very high – particularly the landing.