Prospector 9A Flight Test 1

23 August 2008

Koehn Dry Lake Bed, CA

 

The GSC/CSULB team developed and flew the Prospector 9A (P-9A) under a Phase II SBIR project with the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate (AFRL/RZ) at Edwards Air Force Base.  The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) was a co-sponsor, while NASA Johnson Space Center provided a series of wireless sensor experiments that monitored vehicle dynamics and structural parameters.   The primary project objective was to demonstrate and evaluate responsive, fast turn-around flight operations with NLV-scale test vehicles.  A secondary objective was to manifest candidate nanosat payload accommodations, starting with an engineering prototype of the RocketPod cubesat deployer from Ecliptic Enterprises.  When feasible, additional opportunities to evaluate candidate launch vehicle technologies, such as composite cryogenic propellant tanks, were also pursued. 

 

The P-9A reflected design and operational experiences obtained with the preceding Prospector 7 vehicle, which was previously developed during the first phase of this SBIR and eventually flown a total of four times.  Key P-9A features included the 4.5K LOX/ethanol ablative engine that is a precursor to the engines for the NLV and a pair of linerless composite propellant tanks procured from Microcosm / Scorpius SLC.  One tank was used for liquid oxygen (LOX) while the other was modified to be compatible with ethanol.  The P-9A was the first launch vehicle to achieve flight with two such composite tanks and was only the third vehicle to use composite tanks for carrying a cryogenic propellant (the previous ones being the McDonnell Douglas DC-XA with its liquid hydrogen tank and GSC's Kimbo IV that featured a sub-scale LOX tank, also provided by Microcosm).

 

Launch took place on Saturday morning, 23 August 2008 at the Koehn Dry Lake Bed outside of Mojave with the usual site support provided by the FAR organization, after less than a day of on-site preparations.  Due to budgetary constraints, only a single flight was baselined for this initial test campaign and because of altitude ceiling limitations, the propellant load was kept to just 11 % of full capacity.    Checkout, propellant loading, countdown, ignition and engine burn were nominal.  However, at slightly less than 3 seconds after lift-off, the vehicle pitched abruptly as the interstage separated from equipment bay at the forward end of the first stage.  Even as the first stage underwent major yaw and pitch rotations, the engine continued to burn until propellant depletion, after which the stage dropped parallel to the ground until crashing.

 

Post-test inspection found the LOX tank and much of the P-9 airframe to be totally destroyed.  The skirts of the fuel tank were also damaged, but there are no visible signs of damage to the pressure vessel section of the tank.  Coordination is under way with NASA to conduct non-destructive evaluation of the fuel tank to locate and assess internal damage.  Subsequent study into the causes of the joint failure indicates that the bolt pattern geometry connecting the interstage to the first stage was inadequate.  This joint had been designed to fail at landing to protect the high-value first stage, while also facilitating rapid replacement of the interstage and fairing in preparation for subsequent flights.  Corrective actions for future missions that do not require fast turn-around operations have since been defined.

 

P-9A Undergoing Final Integration

 

 

Launch Crew

 

 

Close-up of NASA JSC Passive Sensor Tags Monitoring LOX Tank Temperatures

 

 

Ignition

 

 

Leaving the Launch Rail

 

 

 

P-9A in Powered Flight

 

 

 

 

Failure of Joint Between the First Stage and Interstage

 

 

First Stage After Crash Landing

 

 


Last Updated: 12 January 2009