Rocket Damaged After Partial Failure in Landing

Deep Blue Aerospace’s Nebula-1 rocket executed its first High-Altitude Vertical Recovery Flight Test on September 22. It successfully completed 10 out of 11 objectives, experiencing a damaging anomaly during the final landing stage.

The test began at 05:40 UTC at the Chinese commercial rocket firm’s Ejin Banner Spaceport in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Nebula-1 launched with three out of nine engines ignited, then shut down two more to rely on the thrust of a single engine. After stabilizing and moving around 200 meters to the side, the landing legs were deployed and locked. During the final landing phase, however, an unusual shutdown led to the rocket dropping from a much higher altitude than anticipated.

Drone footage from the 179-second flight shows the Nebula-1’s fall, causing significant damage to the bottom section of the vessel. Still, Deep Blue Aerospace commented that several notable accomplishments were made during the test. The Nebula-1 completed 10 objectives from the test outline without error, even landing with less than half a meter of error on the recovery site.

A preliminary retrospective analysis of the test data shows that the engine thrust servo “followed the control command abnormally,” the company stated, forcing the rocket to land before its design range. The company is slated to host a new VTVL test in November.

The Nebula-1 is Deep Blue Aerospace's first commercial liquid rocket capable of entering orbit. It is intended to be reused after landing, marking a significant milestone for the company’s recyclable technology. The rocket has a 3.35-meter body diameter and a 21-meter first-stage height, with more than 90% of the structure formed using a high-temperature, 3D-printed alloy.  It utilizes nine Thunder-R liquid oxygen-kerosene engines and is China's first reusable liquid rocket engine developed independently by Deep Blue Aerospace.

The Nebula-1 completed its kilometer-level VTVL test in May 2022. This was the first time that the Thunder-R engine was seen in action.

Deep Blue Aerospace is now in the process of designing a Nebula-2 rocket. This will be larger than the Nebula-1 design and will be capable of hosting a 20,000-kilogram payload.

FMI: www.dbaspace.com