Brazilian rocket goes kablooey :(

Oh, that's sad.. I was just following that satellite prep last week during the creation of my media & foreign relations final. The military guy in charge seemed so hopeful that this test would be successful.
 
I live at CTA, where the rocket was developed. Actually, no one was injured. There were 21 dead. I know one of the survivors. He only survived because it wasn't on his shift.
 
Rushed space launches do have a nasty habit of blowing up :cool:

But seriously, in June 1969, the Soviets were getting ready to launch their N-1 moon rocket. If it had been successful, then the Soviets would have landed on the moon more than a week ahead of the Americans. However, the rocket blew up, fully fueled, in a huge fireball of one thousand tons of petroleum fuel. This fireball also engulfed the SECOND N-1 rocket, which was sitting on a pad only a kilometer away as a backup in case something went wrong (!), and THAT one blew too! It was one of the biggest manmade non-nuclear explosions in history.
 
Slawter said:
I live at CTA, where the rocket was developed. Actually, no one was injured. There were 21 dead. I know one of the survivors. He only survived because it wasn't on his shift.
Click to expand...

CTA rules! They are the reason behind Embraer´s current success. (BTW= CTA stands for Aeronautics Technological Center, in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil).

That was very sad. Alcantara base, where the rocket blew up, is one of the world´s best rocket launching sites. The U.S. have even made some offers to rent it. The problem with the Brazilian space program is the lack of funding, IMHO. The project was not rushed, they´ve been developing that rocket for years, but without proper funding that rocket will never work well.

Brazil had (or still have?) a nuclear submarine project, but I think they gave up because, with the funding they had, when the sub got done it would be very obsolete already.

I don´t think Brazil needs a very powerful military and such, but investing in high technology is vital for any country that wants to grow up, and sadly our government still fails to see that.

Here are some pictures of the accident site:

vls_inter2.jpg


20030824-alcantara4.jpg


20030824-alcantara2.jpg
 
According to the Folha de Sao Paulo website, preliminary investigations show that the accident happened due to a "spontaneous ignition of one of the rocket´s four engines. That could have been caused by an electromagnetic wave, an electric discharge or the contact of a metal part inside the fuel tanks"

One more shot of the destroyed launch pad:

2003082505.jpg
 
I believe that it was hurried.
Brigadier Ribeiro was going to leave CTA soon, and wanted the VLS to go before he leaves, so he would get the fame. That's my $0,02 on it.

And, Yes, CTA Rules.
 
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