#rocketcam

Investigators pinpoint deformed sensor as cause of Soyuz MS-10 abort (November 1, 2018) In a press conference outside of Moscow November 1, Russian investigators have released their preliminary findings on the cause of last month’s Soyuz MS-10 launch anomaly. 

According to Oleg Skorobogatov, leader of the Russian accident investigation commission, the failure was traced to a deformed sensor on a strap-on booster that was improperly installed during the Soyuz rocket’s assembly. Discovered to have been bent by just six degrees, the sensor was unable to open a cover on a reverse thrust nozzle which would have completed the separation of the booster from the core stage. 

In a video released by Roscosmos during this morning’s press conference, the ‘D’ booster can be seen partially separating from the core stage and swinging back to impact the engine section. RSC Energia, manufacturers of the Soyuz rocket, are inspecting vehicles slated to fly upcoming missions to ensure the anomaly will not occur again.  Two uncrewed launches of the Soyuz rocket are slated before the December 3 flight of the Soyuz MS-11 and its crew to the space station. These flights will serve as verification that the vehicle is safe to resume human flights. 

Soyuz MS-10 marked the first launch abort in the International Space Station program and the first crewed Soyuz failure since Soyuz T-10 experienced a high-altitude abort in 1983.

The rocketcam video of the MS-10 launch also marks the first time onboard footage has been seen of a vehicle departing Earth from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Gagarin’s Start - technically known as LC-1/5 - is the pad used by most crewed flights of the Russian space program, including the first traveller into space, Yuri Gagarin. The pad can be seen falling away with the surrounding Kazakh steppe and Baikonur infrastructure in the distance. Rocketcams were first installed on Arianespace-operated Soyuz vehicles departing from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in 2015, and upgraded Soyuz-2 rockets launching from the Vostochny cosmodrome in 2016.

Rocketcam shows India’s mini space shuttle flight.

ISRO has released a unique rocketcam video of Monday’s historic RLV-TD mission. The agency’s first-ever publicly released camera, the video follows the mission from launch to vehicle separation. The camera was located at the separation joint between the shuttle’s aft vertical stabilizers and the booster.

As the solid fueled rocket climbs into the morning sky, its exhaust trail can be seen leading back to the pad. The booster’s trajectory was guided by control surfaces on four fins located at the base of the rocket, which can be seen in motion.

Forty six seconds after liftoff, at an altitude of 59 kilometers (36.5 miles), the 9-ton, HS9 solid rocket booster burned out. Separating 12 seconds later, the RLV-TD continued to an altitude of 65 kilometers (40.3 miles), where it began its hypersonic descent into the Bay of Bengal.

The RLV-TD was not intended to be recovered, however ISRO stated the vehicle survived landing intact and was seen floating in the Bay by support vessels.