Kairos' Maiden Flight, Space One's launch from Kii Spaceport,
(Northern) Japan, only lasted a few seconds. The video stream showed
the clouds of smoke from the debris fire casting ominous shadows on the
pad {ominous is my contribution).

This rocket used 3 solid stages with a liquid-fueled kickstage. Solids
avoid the difficulty of building an orbital-class turbopump, but space
is still hard.

/dps

--
"That's a good sort of hectic, innit?"

" Very much so, and I'd recommend the haggis wontons."
-njm

Snidely explained on 3/12/2024 :
> Kairos' Maiden Flight, Space One's launch from Kii Spaceport, (Northern)
> Japan,

Not so far north, just south of Osaka. I was thinking up towards
Sapporo, but that was a misunderstanding.

> only lasted a few seconds. The video stream showed the clouds of
> smoke from the debris fire casting ominous shadows on the pad {ominous is my
> contribution).

NSF reports that the flight termination was used. The actual RUD was
not visible on the WTV stream; the rocket lifted off and went off the
first camera, which wasn't a tracking cam. The next view was from a
camera showing the debris cloud rising up from behind a hill. The view
went back to the first camera to show the fires on the ground, in the
ravine leading to the sea.

> This rocket used 3 solid stages with a liquid-fueled kickstage. Solids avoid
> the difficulty of building an orbital-class turbopump, but space is still
> hard.
>

/dps

--
And the Raiders and the Broncos have life now in the West. I thought
they were both nearly dead if not quite really most sincerely dead. --
Mike Salfino, fivethirtyeight.com

On 12/03/2024 19:24 Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:
> Kairos' Maiden Flight, Space One's launch from Kii Spaceport,
> (Northern) Japan, only lasted a few seconds. The video stream showed
> the clouds of smoke from the debris fire casting ominous shadows on the
> pad {ominous is my contribution).
>
> This rocket used 3 solid stages with a liquid-fueled kickstage. Solids
> avoid the difficulty of building an orbital-class turbopump, but space
> is still hard.
>
> /dps
>
> --
> "That's a good sort of hectic, innit?"
>
> " Very much so, and I'd recommend the haggis wontons."
> -njm

I think it was simply poorly executed. We've had similar failures which were traced to the hydrophilic nature of the solid fuel. This resulted in the fuel becoming brittle and a huge surface area for the fuel to burn resulting in an explosion.

Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

> NSF reports that the flight termination was used.

Indeed:

"The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the
achievement of its mission would be difficult," company
president Masakazu Toyoda said.
Space One did not specify what triggered self-destruction
after the first-stage engine ignited - or when the company would
launch the next Kairos - only pledging an investigation into the
explosion.
The company said that the launch is highly automated,
requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket
self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed
or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people
on the ground.
-- https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japans-space-one-counts-down-inaugural-kairos-rocket-launch-2024-03-12/

On 14/03/2024 13:09 om@iki.fi (Otto J. Makela)
wrote:
> Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> NSF reports that the flight termination was used.
>
> Indeed:
>
> "The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the
> achievement of its mission would be difficult," company
> president Masakazu Toyoda said.
> Space One did not specify what triggered self-destruction
> after the first-stage engine ignited - or when the company would
> launch the next Kairos - only pledging an investigation into the
> explosion.
> The company said that the launch is highly automated,
> requiring only about a dozen ground staff, and that the rocket
> self-destructs when it detects errors in its flight path, speed
> or control system that could cause a crash that endangers people
> on the ground.
> -- https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/japans-space-one-counts-down-inaugural-kairos-rocket-launch-2024-03-12/

How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean, the avionics can steer the rocket, right?

Could be a programming error in the FTS.

The Running Man <runningman@writeable.com> wrote:

> How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean,
> the avionics can steer the rocket, right?
>
> Could be a programming error in the FTS.

Could be. In a wider-view video I think you could see the rocket
beginning to veer to the side even within those 5 seconds,
which might indicate some kind of a systemic error.

https://youtu.be/Fq0zDjQEIHE
--
/* * * Otto J. Makela <om@iki.fi> * * * * * * * * * */
/* Phone: +358 40 765 5772, ICBM: N 60 10' E 24 55' */
/* Mail: Mechelininkatu 26 B 27, FI-00100 Helsinki */
/* * * Computers Rule 01001111 01001011 * * * * * * */

Otto J. Makela explained :
> The Running Man <runningman@writeable.com> wrote:
>
>> How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean,
>> the avionics can steer the rocket, right?
>>
>> Could be a programming error in the FTS.
>
> Could be. In a wider-view video I think you could see the rocket
> beginning to veer to the side even within those 5 seconds,
> which might indicate some kind of a systemic error.
>
> https://youtu.be/Fq0zDjQEIHE

Also, 5 seconds is plenty of time for a chamber pressure issue. Moern
FTS is more than just "off track".

/dps

--
https://xkcd.com/2704

Remember when Otto J. Makela bragged outrageously? That was Thursday:
> The Running Man <runningman@writeable.com> wrote:
>
>> How can it know that only 5 seconds after launch? I mean,
>> the avionics can steer the rocket, right?
>>
>> Could be a programming error in the FTS.
>
> Could be. In a wider-view video I think you could see the rocket
> beginning to veer to the side even within those 5 seconds,
> which might indicate some kind of a systemic error.
>
> https://youtu.be/Fq0zDjQEIHE

Thanks for that link!

-d

--
Who, me? And what lacuna?