I assume that I was not the only one who was looking for more info about the reason behind the abortion of the mission on Wednesday. Yesterday Isar Aerospace posted the following:
Yesterday, Isar Aerospace was set to launch its qualification flight for Mission ‘Onward and Upward’ from Andøya Space during a 15 minute launch window. While all operations and check-outs were nominal throughout the countdown, Isar Aerospace was informed about an unauthorized vessel intruding the designated danger zone at sea. Shortly before the launch system entered final autosequence, the launch was placed on hold for 15 minutes. The range could only be declared clear at 21:18, and the countdown resumed.
As a result of the delay, the vehicle encountered an increase in engine fuel temperature, which could not be addressed within the shortened countdown and hence forced the abort of the mission.
I searched for more info on the type of boat and found the following in the linked article:
The unauthorized boat was the longliner 'Einar'. Skipper Olafur Einarson denies that he deliberately tried to sabotage the rocket launch.
The part I found the most interesting:
Einarsson has previously abided in the restricted zone during scheduled shooting outside of Andøya. Last fall, he got a German bombing exercise on Andfjorden cancelled because he did not want to leave the area that Andøya Space wanted to exercise in.
Yet, he rejects allegations of sabotage.
"I donæt know about anyone who has planned any sabotage. This is our workplace, are we committing sabotage by going to work? I can't believe that anyone thinks that. If we are delayed, that is not sabotage. We do our job and they do theirs," states the fisherman.
Those missions cannot be cheap (to put it mildly) and now I wonder how this will be prevented in the future.
by Sheep_2757
1 Comment
Just a pedantic FYI … in this context it would be “abort,” not “abortion.” The latter has quite a different connotation.
On the subject itself: It’s perhaps understandable there’s less compliance on that site. Given the very low launch traffic, locals might simply not be so aware. However, if this fisherman had once complied, but is not doing so now, it does raise suspicion that he’s being deliberately difficult.
I wonder what the notification protocols are around the site.