(My initial guess was right about a turbopump failure) While the work of the AIB continues, preliminary evidence and analysis conducted to date points to a probable turbopump-related failure in one of the two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 stage one main engines. As a result, the use of these engines for the Antares vehicle likely will be discontinued. Turbopump challenges in the high-stress closed-loop cycle prop system is what plagued development of the NK-33 as well and was the cause of N-1 lanch failures. The just cant take the stress and disintegrate, basically.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 13:21:24 +0000
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