[AR] Re: starship abort?
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2023 19:58:44 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 20 Apr 2023, Craig Remillard wrote:
Since ~2017 SpaceX has used autonomous flight termination, I think ULA
followed recently ...
"Autonomous flight safety system" is the relevant buzzphrase --
"autonomous flight termination system" generally seems to refer to a
particular NASA-funded implementation that's basically still in beta, and
was first flown on the recent Electron launch from Wallops. SpaceX's
autonomous system is their own proprietary system. (And yes, I'd
misunderstood this and it led me to think this stuff wasn't quite in
service yet... oops.)
Some of the SpaceX announcements sort of vaguely implied that Starship had
been "commanded" to self-destruct, but apparently it's now been confirmed
that termination was autonomous, due to failed staging.
and I believe all new rockets launched from US ranges must
use autonomous systems.
Note, though, that Boca Chica isn't a "US range" -- that term refers to
government-operated launch ranges.
Also, "new rocket" is a slippery term, e.g. SLS isn't yet using autonomous
termination even though it's pretty new by any rational standard. :-)
(They're hoping to add it in time for flight 3.)
Henry
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