University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, August27, 1991
9
Controllers blamed for failure of launch
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Launch controllers loaded the wrong computer program into the guidance unit of a rocket that had to be destroyed last week when it veered sharply off course, a Pentagon official said yesterday.
Another computer problem has grounded a similar rocket that is supposed to carry up more so-called Star Wars experiments as part of a target-tracking test.
The 29-foot Aries rocket was blown up Tuesday 23 seconds after being launched with Star Wars experiments from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Instead of heading northeast over the Atlantic Ocean, the rocket sped south.
That launch, originally set for last Friday, is off until at least next week. Strategic Defense Initiative officials said.
The burning wreckage fell onto a remote area of the Air Force station. No injuries or property damage were reported.
The cost of the launch, not counting the experiments, was $5 million.
A technician accidentally hit the wrong key while loading software into the rocket's guidance and control unit just before liftoff, Griffin said.
As a result, ground test software rather than flight software was sent into on-board computers, causing the steering nozzles to lock in place, he said.
Controllers never checked to make sure the proper computer program had been loaded, Griffin said. The mistake was evident on computer printouts, but no one looked at them.
An SDI representative, Maj. Carolyn Channave, said top Pentagon officials definitely will look into this.
The launch operations were conducted by rocket-maker Orbital Sciences Corp. of Fairfax, Va.
Ences corp. Orbital Sciences representative Laura Ayres said the company had no comment regarding the mistake
After the accident, SDI officials delayed the launch of the second Aries to doublecheck that rocket's systems. Programmers discovered a logic error in the navigational computer system that would have caused the booster to go in the wrong direction, Griffin said.
That launch, also a $5 million venture, is off at least until early next week.
"Having found another error in the software, the team thought it appropriate to stand down and re-examine the whole situation," Griffin said.
it is not known whether the destroyed rocket also had the software logic error, Griffin said.
wrote error. Even if it did, the programming error would have preempted that problem.s
ne snort, suborbital Aries flights are part of SDI's Red Tigress program for the development of missile-detecting sensors.
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