Engineers have identified a “very unusual” oxygen fire in a turbopump as the reason a rocket engine exploded during a test at the spaceport in Shetland earlier this week.
The blast on Monday has delayed a German company’s efforts to carry out the first vertical satellite launch from European soil.
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) said launching in the coming weeks or months was “no longer possible”.
Nobody was hurt during the incident at the privately-owned SaxaVord Spaceport on Unst, the most northerly inhabited island in the UK.
However the first stage of the RFA One rocket was destroyed in the blast, meaning a replacement will need to be brought from Germany.
READ MORE: Rocket engine explodes during test at Shetland spaceport
In a video posted on social media, a spokesman for the company said they had collected a significant amount of data and footage from the blast.
The video shows a plume of fire extending horizontally from the base of the rocket, indicating a problem with one of the engines.
He said: “We actually ignited eight motors, unfortunately one of these motors has developed an anomaly.
“We know now from the debris analysis that we have conducted that this anomaly was a very unusual one.
“It was most likely a fire in the oxygen pump.
“That’s really difficult to contain, that spread on to neighbouring engines.”
An emergency stop and fire suppression systems were simply not enough to contain the fire, he said, and the remaining fuel and liquid oxygen on board the vehicle ignited.
The spokesman said: “Unfortunately this has happened in that very important stage test and unfortunately this has taken out the entire stage.
“This comes at a really critical time, we wanted to launch within the next few weeks and months and this is unfortunately no longer possible.”
He said that no “major” parts of the launch site infrastructure were damaged in the explosion, and RFA are confident their engine design is “very sound”.
READ MORE: Countdown to launch for Scottish island Spaceport
A SaxaVord spokesman said earlier: “This was a test and test campaigns are designed to identify issues prior to the next stage.
“We will work with RFA to understand and learn from the causes and support them as they move forward to the next phase of their preparations.”
RFA is not the only company that hopes to achieve an orbital satellite launch from the UK, though its plans are thought to be the most advanced.
Another German company, HyImpulse, also has plans to launch from SaxaVord, as well as the US-based ABL Space Systems.
A company called Orbex hopes to launch from a different spaceport in Sutherland.
Professor Malcolm Macdonald of Strathclyde University, an expert in space technology, has told the PA news agency that failures on new designs of rockets are not uncommon.
He said: “Obviously things like this get quite high profile and get a lot of interest, but I think most people within the space sector would be expecting setbacks.
“We build the capability over a number of years, and launch is just a small part of the overall space sector.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here