At the annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites in Logan, Utah, on Wednesday, Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX provided some additional details on the failure of the third Falcon 1 launch earlier this month in a previously-scheduled talk about the mission. She showed the rocket’s-eye view of the launch previously released on the SpaceX web site, but with some additional frames after the 2nd stage engine ignited; you can see some debris in the video (or “nasty bits”, as she put it), which she said included a parachute recovery system as well as the second stage engine nozzle (this particular cut of the video is not on the SpaceX web site because of ITAR concerns.) Also:

• The second stage started to tumble after ignition because of the loss of the nozzle. Still, they were able to command the separation of the payload fairing, and got telemetry up to nine minutes after launch.
• SpaceX is pressing ahead with the next launch, which will be a demonstration mission with nothing more than a mass simulator. Hardware for the mission will start shipping to Kwajalein in a week or two, and they are aiming for a “narrow” launch window in September, with another launch window in October.
• There are two failure investigations in process, one internal and one external, but SpaceX doesn’t plan to wait until those reviews are complete before proceeding with Flight 4.

Shotwell said that she had the task of explaining the failure to Elon Musk’s assistant, who is not a launch vehicle expert. After explaining what happened, she recalled, the assistant said, “You mean to say we rear-ended ourselves?”

While in Oshkosh last weekend I experimented with some video of the Rocket Racer flights and other activities. Below is one short sample: the XCOR-powered Rocket Racer taking off on Saturday, August 2:

Rocket Racer takeoff at Oshkosh from Jeff Foust on Vimeo.

I’ll add some more video as time (and video quality) permits.

The Rocket Racing League’s first racer flew again at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Saturday. This time the weather was better than Friday, when a storm encroached on the area; Saturday featured clear skies and light winds, so the Rocket Racer, again piloted by Rick Searfoss, flew a more ambitious series of aerobatic maneuvers. (More pictures to come.)

One minor difference outside of the flight was that the second Rocket Racer, which had been on display at the RRL exhibit, was not there on Saturday. The vehicle is being towed back to Texas, where it will perform a test flight on Tuesday for the FAA. I did not see anyone from Armadillo around the exhibit either day, although one person had another commitment: founder John Carmack was at the QuakeCon tourament in Dallas this weekend, where he briefly talked about Armadillo with the Dallas Morning News. Carmack noted that the venture is now making a small profit after “eight years of being a money pit.” Carmack is spending 20 hours a week on Armadillo, on top of 40 hours at id Software; he said Armadillo is considering hiring a “full-time chief executive” in the near future.

I was at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Friday and saw the Rocket Racing League’s first vehicle fly during an afternoon performance. I have a collection of images from the day, including both the flight and some items at their exhibit, including the second racer (which, RRL officials said, will begin flying next week.) More insights to come.

On Friday Scaled Composites issued an accident investigation update about last July’s propulsion system test accident that killed three company employees and injured three others. The statement does not indicate a cause of the accident, and notes that a Cal OSHA investigation that wrapped up in January did not determine a cause. The statement does note that Scaled is making a number of changes, including:

• Conducting increased compatibility testing between N2O and any materials that contact it in the tank and eliminate incompatible materials in the flow path;
• Revising cleaning procedures to further minimize the risk of contaminants in the system;
• Replacing the composite liner in the N2O tank with a metal tank liner;
• Diluting N2O vapor in the tank with Nitrogen or another inert gas to decrease its volatility and/or act as a pressurant;
• Designing additional safety systems for the N2O tank to minimize the danger due to tank overpressure; for example, a burst disk feature; and
• Increasing the amount of testing during the development program to demonstrate that these design changes, and any improvements to system components, prevent the sequence of events
  that led to the accident.

The statement does appear to indicate that Scaled is continuing with a nitrous hybrid propulsion system for SS2.

Well, someone is not too happy with the concept of personal spaceflight. In a letter to the editor in Saturday’s Washington Post, C. Anthony Altar of Garrett Park, Maryland, uses the WhiteKnightTwo rollout to complain that personal spaceflight is “selfish excess” that should be prohibited. Such travelers, or, rather, “eco-hypocrites”, “burn toluene and other pollutants” on their flights (not sure about the toluene, but no matter). “We cannot accept a narcissism that trumps common sense and pollutes the fragile atmosphere the rest of us must breathe,” he argues. “Public outrage can mobilize our government to outlaw this kind of activity.”

Dr. Altar (yes, he is President and Chief Scientific Officer at Psychiatric Genomics) is more than a little off base here. Yes, suborbital spaceflights will likely release some degree, however small, of pollutants—many human activities do. However, the small size of the vehicles, short burn time, and relatively low flight rate means that such flights will have a miniscule footprint on the environment compared to commercial aviation. Perhaps if he is really concerned about protecting the “fragile atmosphere”, he can try to “mobilize out government to outlaw” commercial aviation.