Oct 16 1980
From The Space Library
ESA announced that the cause of the failure of Ariane L02 May 23 was "combustion instability" on one of the four first-stage engines 5.75 seconds after launch. The violent event "altered the characteristics of the injector" and destroyed the vehicle 108 seconds after liftoff. ESA had analyzed telemetry, looked over hardware recovered from the ocean, conducted acoustic simulations and 37 static firings between July and mid-October, and investigated manufacturing processes. It would change its procedure for buying injectors. (ESA Info 24)
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