F2RE during Junolink 7/10/2
On Thursday, November 6th at 20:30 GMT, the F2RE rocket lifted off from Pad 01B at the NSC in Euresia carrying 10 Junolink V1 spacecraft communication satellites intending to reach a 350km 45° N LDO.
Immediately after liftoff, a fire was observed from internal cameras and external cameras observing the engine section of the first stage. This was accompanied by a single Aeolus V1.6 (E2) shutting down just 13 seconds into flight.
F2RE proceeded with its mission on the remaining 11 Aeolus V1.6 engines. At T+51 seconds, we experienced a rapid pressure drop in both the LCH4 tank and the LOX tank, followed by cascading engine failures starting at T+1:10 into the flight.
Ultimately, F2RE lost four engines and experienced tank pressures 30% lower than normal by the end of its flight. The vehicle was destroyed at T+1:17 in a massive fireball.
The likely cause of failure was determined to be a degradation in the seals for the fuel/ox autogenous pressurisation lines of the Aeolus V1.6 engine over the course of multiple re-flights.
This caused an uncontained engine bay fire which gradually began to damage engines to the point of shutting down early.
The AFTS was activated after F2RE's flight computer communications system was destroyed by the flames. All debris fell within the pre-planned exclusion zone.
This phenomenon has been observed on Rideshare Two and Serenity. However, it did not result in catastrophic fires as seen on Junolink 7/10/2.
Teams are working on implementing changes to the gas lines for the remaining 4 flights of F2RE.
should have stayed with aurore space