{"id":95099,"date":"2023-02-16T15:44:02","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T04:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/?p=95099"},"modified":"2023-02-17T15:46:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T04:46:34","slug":"dislodged-fuel-filter-blamed-for-virgin-orbit-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/2023\/02\/dislodged-fuel-filter-blamed-for-virgin-orbit-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Dislodged fuel filter blamed for Virgin Orbit failure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl 747 taking off from a test flight in the Mojave Desert (Virgin Orbit)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A fuel filter that dislodged mid-launch is now believed to be behind the\u00a0failure of Virgin Orbit\u2019s 747 rocket launc<\/a>h in the UK earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The business confirmed the findings in a recent release, noting that a \u201ccomprehensive\u201d examination indicated that a filter dislodged from its correct position during the launch phase.<\/p>\n

This failure is then believed to have resulted in abnormalities in the Newtown 4 engine, and the subsequent malfunction of components around the engine.<\/p>\n

Virgin Orbit is the successor to a project begun by Virgin Galactic and uses a modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft to launch payloads into space from mid-air.<\/p>\n

January\u2019s launch was the first outside the company\u2019s home airport in the Mojave Desert, California, and significantly came before it plans a demonstrator launch at\u00a0Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport<\/a>\u00a0in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data is indicating that from the beginning of the second stage first burn, a fuel filter within the fuel feedline had been dislodged from its normal position,\u201d a release from the company read.<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cAdditional data shows that the fuel pump that is downstream of the filter operated at a degraded efficiency level, resulting in the Newton 4 engine being starved for fuel. Performing in this anomalous manner resulted in the engine operating at a significantly higher than rated engine temperature.<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

\u201cComponents downstream and in the vicinity of the abnormally hot engine eventually malfunctioned, causing the second stage thrust to terminate prematurely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe early thrust termination ended the mission, and the second stage and its payloads fell back to Earth, landing in the approved safety corridor in the Atlantic Ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

While data has indicated the presence of the dislodged fuel filter, researchers are nevertheless continuing to assess all alternative scenarios.<\/p>\n

The company is now expected to proceed \u201ccautiously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investigation is not yet complete; the team is hard at work and we\u2019ll pursue the cause and contributors to wherever the system analysis takes us,\u201d Dan Hart, chief executive officer of Virgin Orbit said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, with many clear clues from extensive data assessment now understood, we are modifying our next rocket with a more robust filter and we are looking broadly to assure that all credible contributors to mission failure are rooted out and addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those modifications being incorporated on our factory floor, we will proceed cautiously toward the launch of our next rocket, which is well into the integration and test process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the month, Hart alluded to participants at the SmallSat Symposium in California that the launch failed due to a \u201c$100 part\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything points to, right now, a filter that was clearly there when we assembled the rocket but was not there as the second stage engine started, meaning it was dislodged and caused mischief downstream,\u201d Hart said, as reported in Space News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like a $100 part that took us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British government announced in mid-January that the UK\u2019s Space Accident Investigation Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration would\u00a0jointly lead the investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The launch failure has resulted in the loss of all of the payloads that were bound for orbit aboard LauncherOne, including a UK Ministry of Defence satellite and a US Naval Research Laboratory payload.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The business confirmed the findings in a recent release, noting that a \u201ccomprehensive\u201d examination indicated that a filter dislodged from its correct position during the launch phase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1641,"featured_media":95100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95101,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95099\/revisions\/95101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofaviation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}