5 ms·

I don't think Antares can command itself to destruct. The destruct has to be commanded by the range. There isn't any point to issuing the destruct command unles

I don't think Antares can command itself to destruct. The destruct has to be commanded by the range. There isn't any point to issuing the destruct command unless the impact point is dangerously far from the flight path, and that wasn't the case here.

dalke 12y ago
I think it's reasonable to assume that Antares can command itself to destruct given that other rockets have that ability, and have so destructed. Ariane 5 (the infamous flight 501) self-destructed. http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/Ariane5accidentreport.html http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/Ariane5accidentreport.html "The launcher started to disintegrate at about H0 + 39 seconds because of high aerodynamic loads due to an angle of attack of more than 20 degrees that led to separation of the boosters from the main stage, in turn triggering the self-destruct system of the launcher" A SpaceX rocket self-destructed: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188593-spacex-rocket-self-destructs-after-detecting-an-anomaly-reusable-space-launchers-are-tricky-business http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188593-spacex-rocket-self... "In a statement, SpaceX says the rocket detected an anomaly and automatically initiated its self-destruct sequence." The Titan IVA-20 explosion was also due to a self-destruct, and not the range officer: http://fas.org/spp/military/program/launch/titan_iv-20_sum.htm http://fas.org/spp/military/program/launch/titan_iv-20_sum.h... "At this point, the northern-most Solid Rocket Motor (SRM #1) separated from the core booster, initiating the Inadvertent Separation Destruct System. At 45.529 seconds, approximately 3 seconds after the automatic destruct sequence, Mission Flight Control Officers sent command destruct signals to the vehicle."
- trothamel 12y ago
  For what it's worth, this mission had a manual destruct command sent at T+20s. EDIT: According to the press conference.
- engi_nerd 12y ago
  Up until a few months ago, I was an engineer for OSC. We used the same Flight Termination Logic Unit (FTLU) as Antares. I can confirm that it can provide for automatic destruct should the engineers desire it. I have no knowledge of the specifics of its use in Antares (I did not work on the Antares program), but given the constraints of operating from Wallops, I would not be surprised if automatic destruct is enabled for all Antares launches.
ceejayoz 12y ago
http://www.orbital.com/LaunchSystems/Publications/Antares_UsersGuide.pdf http://www.orbital.com/LaunchSystems/Publications/Antares_Us... has a glossary item for "Automatic Destruct System".

dalke 12y ago

I think it's reasonable to assume that Antares can command itself to destruct given that other rockets have that ability, and have so destructed. Ariane 5 (the infamous flight 501) self-destructed. http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/Ariane5accidentreport.html http://sunnyday.mit.edu/accidents/Ariane5accidentreport.html "The launcher started to disintegrate at about H0 + 39 seconds because of high aerodynamic loads due to an angle of attack of more than 20 degrees that led to separation of the boosters from the main stage, in turn triggering the self-destruct system of the launcher" A SpaceX rocket self-destructed: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188593-spacex-rocket-self-destructs-after-detecting-an-anomaly-reusable-space-launchers-are-tricky-business http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188593-spacex-rocket-self... "In a statement, SpaceX says the rocket detected an anomaly and automatically initiated its self-destruct sequence." The Titan IVA-20 explosion was also due to a self-destruct, and not the range officer: http://fas.org/spp/military/program/launch/titan_iv-20_sum.htm http://fas.org/spp/military/program/launch/titan_iv-20_sum.h... "At this point, the northern-most Solid Rocket Motor (SRM #1) separated from the core booster, initiating the Inadvertent Separation Destruct System. At 45.529 seconds, approximately 3 seconds after the automatic destruct sequence, Mission Flight Control Officers sent command destruct signals to the vehicle."

trothamel 12y ago
For what it's worth, this mission had a manual destruct command sent at T+20s. EDIT: According to the press conference.
engi_nerd 12y ago
Up until a few months ago, I was an engineer for OSC. We used the same Flight Termination Logic Unit (FTLU) as Antares. I can confirm that it can provide for automatic destruct should the engineers desire it. I have no knowledge of the specifics of its use in Antares (I did not work on the Antares program), but given the constraints of operating from Wallops, I would not be surprised if automatic destruct is enabled for all Antares launches.

ceejayoz 12y ago

http://www.orbital.com/LaunchSystems/Publications/Antares_UsersGuide.pdf http://www.orbital.com/LaunchSystems/Publications/Antares_Us... has a glossary item for "Automatic Destruct System".