ABL Area Methods, a small satellite launching startup aiming to make its rocket debut, aborted its third launch try in lower than every week on Monday (Nov. 21).Â
The planned RS1 rocket launch, which was focused for five:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT) from the Pacific Spaceport Complicated on Kodiak Island, Alaska, aborted lower than 2 seconds from liftoff, the California-based firm stated. The subsequent launch alternative will likely be on Dec. 7.
“RS1 aborted throughout ignition at T-1.75s. The car is wholesome, and the workforce is setting as much as offload propellant for right now,” ABL Area Methods representatives wrote in a Twitter update (opens in new tab). “Our subsequent launch window opens on December seventh.” The corporate didn’t announce a precise trigger for the abort.
Monday’s abort was the third stalled launch attempt for ABL Area Methods since Nov. 17, when the corporate’s first launch try ended in an abort throughout engine ignition. An try on Saturday (Nov. 19) also ended in an abort 1.8 seconds earlier than launch resulting from an engine turbopump subject, the corporate stated. An try to launch the mission on Nov. 14 was additionally scrubbed due to a leaky valve (opens in new tab).
Primarily based in El Segundo, California, ABL Area Methods was based in 2017 to construct the RS1 rocket, a 88-foot-tall (27 meters) launch car able to carrying satellites and payloads weighing as much as 2,975 kilos (1,350 kilograms) to low Earth orbit. Every mission will price about $12 million.Â
For its debut flight, the RS1 rocket is carrying two small cubesats known as VariSat-1A and VariSat-1B, every of which is the dimensions of a shoebox. The 2 satellites are designed to check marine information communications operations for the corporate VariSat LLC.
Electronic mail Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in new tab) or comply with him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab). Comply with us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
