Officials with UP Aerospace are still working to recover the rocket launched from Spaceport America this week, but now say they are confident the problem that caused it to fall short of space won’t affect a scheduled launch in October.
The Monday launch went smoothly for the first nine seconds, until the rocket reached an altitude of 24,000 feet, the company said in a news release today.
“At that point, an anomaly occurred” that “caused a wobble in the vehicle’s flight trajectory,” the release states.
Ultimately, the rocket reached 42,000 feet – about 8 miles – before returning to earth. That was well short of the approximately 70-mile goal of space.
The company also revealed that it doesn’t know exactly where the rocket touched down. Radar lost track of it 2,000 feet above the ground, and personnel are continuing to search the area where that happened.
The rugged terrain of the area, complicated by unusually overgrown brush from this summer’s rains, is complicating the search.
Until officials find the craft, they may not be able to determine exactly what caused the anomaly.
“We’re certainly anxious to characterize the anomaly that occurred,” UP Aerospace President Jerry Larson said in the release. “… Once all of the air and ground data are assembled and processed, we’ll know exactly what happened, and make whatever corrections are necessary for the next flight.”
He added that, because the rocket performed well until the anomaly, “we would be extremely surprised if we discover a major issue.” Because of that, the company does not expect the problem to affect its launch schedule.
The next launch is set for 1 p.m. on Oct. 21.