Horizontal launch: What could happen when things go wrong!

23rd Sep 2019
Horizontal launch: What could happen when things go wrong!

With the UK edging closer to having launch vehicles taking small satellites into space, it seems like a good time to start taking a look at the safety aspects of rocket launches.

The horizontal launch facilities at both Cornwall and Prestwick are the two that stand out as they are entering into the new technological territory.

Virgin Orbit gets one step closer to operating from Cornwall spaceport

Virgin Orbit, the main launch partners at spaceport Cornwall, have recently tested the ‘release’ aspect of their Launcher One vehicle from the adapted Boeing 747 they have called “Cosmic Girl”. The test was proclaimed to be a success and the company are now just preparing for live launches once all the necessary legislation is in place as well as the infrastructure changes at Newquay airport.

There has been some concern about releasing rockets free-fall from a plane and then initiating the launch engines mid-fall. If you compare this to a vertical launch where the engines are fired up on the ground, where, if anything goes wrong, it is pretty much contained, it does feel like a riskier approach.

And things can go wrong when you are firing up a launch engine. In 2013 the Russian Proton rocket took off from Kazakhstan and very quickly showed signs of its ascent not going so well until it eventually veered completely off course and exploded spectacularly midair.

Proton M rocket explosion: full video

Now could you imagine this happening to a rocket that had been launched horizontally from an aeroplane?

A quick search of YouTube will come up with many other examples where things went spectacularly wrong. In most cases, it was while the rocket was still on the ground and so pretty much contained.

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