NASA Studying Second Taurus Rocket Failure

March 7, 2011 — NASA’s mission was called Glory, and was meant to improve our understanding of how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth’s climate. But in the end it should have been named Disappointment. NASA's Glory mission ended Friday after the spacecraft failed to reach orbit following its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Later the same day, officials announced they were creating a Mishap Investigation Board to evaluate the cause of the failure. Telemetry indicated the fairing, a protective shell atop the satellite's Taurus XL rocket, did not separate as expected. NASA's previous launch attempt of an Earth science spacecraft, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory onboard a Taurus XL on February 24, 2009, also failed to reach orbit when the fairing did not separate. The launch proceeded as planned from its liftoff at 5:09 a.m. EST through the ignition of the Taurus XL's second stage. However, the fairing failure occurred during the second stage engine burn. It is likely the spacecraft fell into the South Pacific, although the exact location is not yet known. The fairing, which covers and protects the spacecraft during launch and ascent, underwent a redesign of its separation system after a similar failure two years ago. The new system has been successfully used on another Orbital launch vehicle several times. NASA Launch Director Omar Baez said the countdown and launch went smoothly until the point at which they should have received data indicating that the fairing had separated from the vehicle. Once more data is analyzed, the teams hope to have a better understanding of what went wrong and where in the South Pacific the spacecraft may have landed. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory Mishap Investigation Board reviewed launch data and the fairing separation system design, and developed a corrective action plan. The plan was implemented by Taurus XL manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation. In October 2010, NASA's Flight Planning Board confirmed the successful closure of the corrective actions. The failure came after the launch for the Glory mission was delayed in February as engineers tried to troubleshoot a malfunction in ground support equipment associated with the Taurus XL rocket. Glory was to fly in a low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 438 miles, about the distance from Boston to Washington. After launch, mission operators planned to conduct verification tests for 30 days and then begin to collect data for at least three years.		An Orbital Sciences Corporation Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA’s Glory spacecraft launched from Space Launch Complex 576-E at 2:09 a.m. PST March 4. Photo credit: U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Lael Huss Some aerosols absorb incoming solar radiation, and others reflect it. Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/Megan Willy

• 2012 - 02/22 - Borschberg Begins Simulated 72-Hour Solar Flight
• 2012 - 02/20 - NASA Celebrates 50 Years of Americans in Space
• 2012 - 02/16 - Tiny Robots Swarm Fly in Formation
• 2012 - 02/16 - Civil War Balloon Replica to Take Flight This Summer
• 2012 - 02/09 - Application Deadline Approaches for EAA Scholarship