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There aren't many blogs covering this right now, but there are no personnel injured (according to the launch loop) -- just "significant property damage and sign

• anigbrowl 12y ago
  Well, that's good. Property damage is insurable - let's hope that's the only loss. Listening to the audio feed for a few minutes, I always find it a bit sad how people resort to 'officialese' bullshit when they're embarrassed or stressed, eg 'we're going to triage the data'?!
  • iolsantr 12y ago
    I don't think that's just officialese. They are going to be under enormous pressure to find out what went wrong as quickly as possible. Orbital Science's future may be significantly affected by how well (and quickly) they deal with the aftermath.
  • engi_nerd 12y ago
    Having been an engineer in control room environments for both rocket launches and fighter jet flight operations -- it's not really "officialese bullshit". Aerospace has a definite jargon and there are preferred ways of saying things on comms to reduce ambiguities. "Triage the data" is actually a good way of describing what you do in an anomaly investigation. You figure out what the most likely thing that went wrong is, then the next most likely thing, etc. and look at data regarding those things in order.
• k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "significant property damage and significant vehicle damage" This wasn't launched in a desert/uninhabited area? Edit: Thanks for clarifying below.
  • pdabbadabba 12y ago
    I imagine that the "property" that was damaged is to the launch facility itself. The launch was on Wallops Island, VA which is largely (if not entirely) uninhabited. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallops_Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallops_Island
  • jonlucc 12y ago
    I'm guessing they mean the launch tower.
  • deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  • Xophmeister 12y ago
    "Property" meaning, presumably, their infrastructure (e.g., the tower that holds the rocket up before it launches, etc.); and "vehicle" is the rocket itself... Don't worry, they didn't launch this and blow-up over suburbia!
  • veemjeem 12y ago
    The rocket's payload may also be considered property. Lots of expensive equipment inside.
  • whoopdedo 12y ago
    And to be clear, the debris field is over the Atlantic Ocean. The launch was scheduled for last night but had to be scrubbed because a boater had entered the restricted area.
    • Crito 12y ago
      The debris field would have been over the Atlantic, had the rocket made it that far. However it failed while it was still over the launchpad, fell out of the sky, and exploded when it fell onto the launchpad.
  • snowwrestler 12y ago
    The town of Chincoteague is a few miles away from the pad. I'm guessing the worst impact there was some windows got rattled by the shockwave from the destruction of the 2nd stage.
• ericcumbee 12y ago
  Rockets don't explode they experience "Anomalies"
  • baq 12y ago
    the technical term seems to be 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'
    • mixmax 12y ago
      actually the correct technical term to use here would be CATO - Catastrophe At Take Off
      • xb95 12y ago
        Only slightly less euphemistic than flying's CFIT - Controlled Flight Into Terrain. AKA "whoops, the ground".
        • hudibras 12y ago
          And going the other direction, euphemistically-wise, the U.S. military's official designation for things* that fall off aircraft is TFOA: Things Falling Off Aircraft. *Anything from loose nuts or fasteners up to improperly-attached fuel tanks or bombs.
        • SAI_Peregrinus 12y ago
          Also known as lithobraking.
• jsmthrowaway 12y ago
  Under Orbital's license for this launch, LLO 14-091, they were required to take out more than $110 million in insurance for liability and government property. The portion of the insurance specific to U.S. government property is $45 million. So, that'll be paying out. http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/media/Antares%20130%20License%20and%20License%20Orders.pdf http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast...