Chinese company Deep Blue Aerospace has released a video showing a new test of a prototype of a reusable first stage of the Nebula-1 rocket. It made a successful takeoff but then crashed during landing.
The test took place on September 22. It was conducted at Deep Blue Aerospace’s spaceport located in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The published footage shows the rocket successfully rising to its target altitude before shutting down two of its three engines, hovering, and then beginning its return to the launch pad. The landing legs deployed, and the stage hovered over the planned landing site. However, a premature engine shutdown caused the landing altitude to be higher than expected, and the stage fell.
Despite the failed landing, Deep Blue Aerospace stressed in a statement that the Nebula-1 stage successfully completed 10 of the 11 primary tasks set for the flight. The landing accuracy was about 0.5 meters. In addition, innovations in attitude control, trajectory optimization and guidance were successfully tested.
According to the company, the past test is an important step toward a 100-kilometer-altitude flight challenge, which will be followed by a full orbital mission. As of now, the next flight of the prototype stage is scheduled for November.
Nebula-1 is a two-stage rocket. Its diameter is 3.35 meters. The first stage uses 9 kerosene-oxygen Thunder-R engines. During the past test, three engines were engaged. For the flight, the rocket was fueled by one-fifth.
The basic version of Nebula-1 will be capable of delivering 2 tons of cargo to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), while the advanced version will be capable of delivering up to 8 tons. Deep Blue Aerospace also works on a larger Nebula-2 rocket. It will be able to launch 20 tons of payload to LEO.
Earlier we reported on how a new Russian ballistic missile exploded at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
According to Spacenews
