Kalistan

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"Luthori 1" Rocket was first design using new application of Beiteynese Engine



ISCA attempts to launch first Rocket
"Luthori 1" fails on Launchpad, issue is believed to be engine
Spencer, Duchy of Suldanor
October 1, 5566

ISCA has built, fired, and will now need to replace the first Kalistani rocket in its nascent space program. Dubbed "Luthori 1", scientists at Spencer Space and Test Center in Spencer Suldanor had originally intended the rocket as a test of a new Beiteynese engine technology returned from Beiteynu by scientists studying propulsion and engine design in Majatra.

"As these designs and concepts are being communicated to Kalistan second hand, we're probably going to fail several times before we can get it right," said Dr. Lawrence Winger, of ISCA's Propulsion Design team at Spencer Center. "Watching the tests of the Luthori 1 Rocket were kind of disheartening, but we were able to gain valuable information from the failure that will allow us to take the next step toward actually launching a satellite into Terran orbit."

The Luthori 1 Rocket, which failed to gain any height after ignition was underpowered, said Winger. "We had been working on designs for the engine based on the schematics that we received from our away team, and it seems that the engine design we had chosen didn't appear to have enough thrust to lift the rocket into the sky. By our calculations we needed approximately 19,000 pounds of thrust, and the engine we used was capable of producing that, and yet the engine clearly was out matched by the force of gravity, leading to a spectacular explosion, if nothing else."

Winger worked really hard to fight off the disappointment he felt. "Yes, the Luthori was quite disappointing," said Winger. "There were a lot of issues and unforeseen outcomes, and it just never really lived up to its potential. But this is one of those things: We will learn from Luthori's implosion, and sooner rather than later, we will succeed where Luthori 1 failed. This time around, we see that the engine just didn't have enough juice to get it off the launch pad. So we will do the things we need to do, improve our engine design and sooner or later the Empire will produce a rocket capable of lifting off, entering the upper levels of the atmosphere and descending back to the surface. From there, we start thinking about satellites."

The Luthori 1 cost the ISCA more than ₭18 Million to build. "In addition the the loss of the rocket," said Winger, "Its explosion damaged the test launch facility, so we will have to rebuild that. But this is the cost of innovation, and I anticipate that we will spend millions more before we get a working design, and especially one that is capable of lifting a payload into orbit around Terra. We are still several years away from that goal, I suspect, based on today's test. But Kalistan will build a new rocket and we should have our next test in the Spring. Failure is part of learning, and we will continue to learn until we get it right."

Though Luthori 1 is no more, you can watch the test footage of the catastrophic failure of the first ISCA rocket here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4b7KCjh7eo]