Four Lightning Bolts Linked to Electrical Failure on Rocket

Four lightning bolts flashed near a rising satellite rocket and the vehicle sustained major electrical failures just before it broke apart, the head of an investigatory panel said Monday.

“There certainly is a strong indication that electrical-magnetic phenomena are associated with the failure of the Atlas-Centaur,” Jon R. Busse told a news conference.

He said electromagnetic interference could come from lightning, from a static charge induced by the rocket or from other sources as the rocket was launched in a rainstorm last Thursday.

Too Early for Conclusion

But he cautioned it was too early to conclude what caused the rocket to break up 52 seconds after liftoff. Destroyed in the accident were the $78-million Atlas-Centaur and an $83-million military communications satellite.

A videotape released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shows a bolt of lightning darting from the area of the rocket, shrouded in clouds, and striking near the launch pad.

Members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology were briefed at the space center Monday on the accident, and the ranking minority member, Rep. Manuel Lujan Jr. (R-N.M.), told reporters: “I’m convinced everyone knows it was weather related, somehow.”

Busse, director of flight assurance at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said his information is preliminary and his full review board will meet here for the first time today.

Five-Mile Limit

He said that from what he knew, the launch team did not violate launch restrictions, including one that liftoff cannot occur if there is lightning within five miles of the pad.

Sixteen minutes before launch, a cloud-to-ground lightning strike was recorded 17.8 miles from the pad, but nothing within five miles, Busse said.

He said the digital computer unit, the brain of the Atlas, suddenly sent a signal after launch that commanded the Atlas engine nozzles to swivel, knocking the vehicle off course and causing it to break apart.