Failure of Rocket Deals Big Blow to General Dynamics
The destruction of an Atlas-Centaur rocket just minutes after it was launched from Cape Canaveral on Thursday night was a major setback for General Dynamics’ bid to capture a bigger share of the international market for commercial rocket launches.
Controllers on the ground deliberately blew up the rocket shortly after a second-stage engine failed to ignite. The resulting explosion destroyed a Japanese television broadcasting satellite that was being placed in orbit for Japan Broadcasting Corp. The value of the rocket and satellite was estimated at $100 million.
General Dynamics officials, who are studying Thursday’s events, don’t know the cause of the malfunction, the first Atlas-Centaur failure since 1984. The rocket, which has been used for decades by the military to launch satellites, had an enviable 95% success rate in 69 previous launches.
Thursday’s was the second of about 60 launches that General Dynamics hopes to complete for non-military customers. The first commercial Atlas-Centaur launch occurred last summer.
The failure was “obviously a disappointment” for General Dynamics and the U.S. industry in general, said Wolfgang Demisch, an industry analyst in New York with UBS Securities. “We, unfortunately, seem to be getting back into the mode where we’re losing more (satellites) than is comfortable.”
While the failure will hurt General Dynamics’ program, it “isn’t a killer,” Demisch said. “It sounds like a one-time accident. If the next three were to blow up, then people would have to start giving (Atlas-Centaur) an agonizing reappraisal.”
General Dynamics and two other American companies, Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas, are trying to win market share from Arianespace, a European consortium that has successfully completed nearly 40 commercial launches since 1980 and holds contracts to launch about 40 more rockets.
General Dynamics officials said the failure would not keep it from seeking additional commercial launch customers. “There is a risk in every venture, and unfortunately these risks sometimes result in failure,” said Alan M. Lovelace, chairman of General Dynamics’ Commercial Launch Services division.
The Atlas-Centaur was carrying a direct broadcast television satellite built for the Japanese by General Electric’s Astro-Space division. A previous attempt to launch a similar Japanese television satellite in February, 1990, failed when a rocket built by Arianespace exploded after launch.
The Japanese are expected to work even harder on developing their own launch vehicles. “From the Japanese perspective, they’ve tried the Europeans and got flushed, and they tried the Americans and got flushed,” Demisch said.
General Dynamics entered the growing commercial launch business in 1987. The company, which has about 30 commercial and military orders and options for its rockets, hopes to eventually build about 60 commercial rockets.
McDonnell Douglas’ Huntington Beach-based Space Systems Co. has successfully launched nine Delta rockets for commercial customers. McDonnell Douglas has contracts for four additional commercial launches.
Martin Marietta’s Denver-based Astronautics Group successfully launched its first commercial version of a Titan rocket on Dec. 31, 1989. A second commercial Titan successfully carried a satellite into orbit on March 14, but the satellite failed to separate from the rocket.
