ESA's Vega rocket crashes and burns after fourth-stage nozzle failure sinks two satellites

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace have commissioned an inquiry into the failure of a Vega rocket that crashed on Tuesday, destroying a pair of Earth monitoring satellites built by French and Spanish researchers. The rocket blasted off from the Guiana Space Center on Tuesday at 0252 UTC. Eight minutes later, after …

[Potemkine!]

It seems the problem comes from two wires inverted during the manufacturing. There's a big quality problem, such a thing should not happen in the space industry.

I guess the manufacturer involved will feel the heat in the coming days

[Francis Boyle]

So Murphy's Law

in it's purest form. It seems we've learnt little in 70 years.

[roytrubshaw]

"Not a design problem"

Personally I think that any design that allows such a simple manufacturing defect to escape detection is probably flawed.

I would suggest that ensuring that it can be manufactured correctly is as much a part of the design as ensuing that it is functionally correct.

But hey, that's just me, what do I know.

[NetBlackOps]

Re: "Not a design problem"

That's why we have one-way connectors and color-coded wires.Or used to, my not having worked in the industry. My experience is naval.

[W.S.Gosset]

And the cable "inversion" was in the Italian mfg plant

...reminds me of the old joke re engineering nightmares, that part about designed in France and built in Italy.

[don't you hate it when you lose your account]

A colour blind

Sparky perhaps

[Aussie Doc]

Re: A colour blind

Oi! I resemble that.

[werdsmith]

With the competition increasing, 2 launch failures in 2 years starts to feel catastrophic to the business. Arianespace need to get their finger out.

[Cuddles]

Time isn't really the important factor. Two failures in two years might not be too bad if they were launching 20+ times a year like SpaceX. Two failures in three launches sounds pretty bad no matter how much time there was in between.

[JCitizen]

That's what I was thinking..

Maybe the organizations that invest in such expensive devices should look elsewhere to launch. Space - X?

[Sceptic Tank]

Flames pointing the wrong way ====>

Next up for launch: JWST

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Flames pointing the wrong way ====>

Yes, but not on a Vega.

[steamnut]

How many more can they afford?

The recent failure rate on a rocket that has been in service since 2012 is unforgivable and, at $37m per launch is getting expensive! Who picks up the tab for these? The cabling problem caused the engine to move its nozzle in the wrong direction in response to the commands from the rocket’s guidance system. This reminds me of the 64 bit maths issue that crashed an Ariane flight in 1996. Surely a basic check ought to be done like a pilot in an aircraft moving the joystick and looking out of the window? This one seems like one of the easier checks to do. I hope the new Vega C is a better product....

[roytrubshaw]

Re: How many more can they afford?

They probably did run tests, but if the sense wire and the actuator wire are in the same bundle then the test would pass...

[TVU]

Re: How many more can they afford?

"Who picks up the tab for these?"

The perhaps surprising answer to that one is the space insurance operators that offer satellite destruction insurance policies. When rockets start to get a track record of being unreliable, then the insurance premium goes up.

In this case, Arianespace ought to seriously consider employing some competent engineers who've had experience at SpaceX (but not Boeing).

[Charlie Clark]

Re: How many more can they afford?

Arianespace does have competent engineers and excellent launch record. The preliminary reports suggest a SNAFU but that should be easier to fix than a design error.

[Timto]

??

Vids or it didn't happen

[Kevin666]

Crossed wires indeed. I thought that the rocket industry sorted this out 60 odd years ago when the wrong Saturn V 2nd stage engine was shut down because of a wiring fault.

[Brad16800]

Give them a break guys, it's not rocket sci.... no wait.

[John Brown (no body)]

Correct. In this case, it's not even rocket engineering. It's just a basic assembly cockup.