Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

With the national security veil having been brought down on the situation, the Lodamese Space Administration unveiled that in testing the medium-lift launch vehicle Vega 2, a critical malfunction occurred which forced the Lodamese Navy to down the test rocket with a CM-6 (conventional missile). At an emergency press conference held at the agency’s headquarters in Kensington a mere eight-hours following the situation, LSA Administrator Dr John Edgar and SDA Director Admiral Sean Howell confirmed that the launch vehicle’s downing had been the primary cause of the temporary suspension of maritime traffic along Lodamun’s eastern coast by the Lodamese Coast Guard. Vega 2’s launch had been a much-anticipated event among the Lodamese space-watching community and interested citizens of the sort, as it represented the third of a series of tests aimed at determining the readiness of the LSA’s various launch vehicles for their eventual use in actual atmospheric and beyond-atmospheric launches. The event, which had been organised in collaboration between the LSA and numerous clubs and community groups, had been attended by some 4,000 persons who were camped at a beach some four (4) miles from the Venfield Space Flight Centre. “It was really exciting to watch, you know? From the countdown to seeing that rocket launch into the air. It’s really something,” one spectator noted. 

In the command centre at Venfield, Vega 2’s launch had been largely routine as various checks of the LVs flight and communication systems were run as part of the final checks prior to launch. It is after this, that Dr Edgar noted that a series of unfortunate events resulted in the rocket’s subsequent destruction. As the LV’s primary guidance system maintained absolute control, making minor adjustments to the pre-determined flight path (which had been over the Anantonese Ocean) to maintain stability and trajectory. Technicians noted that some miles from the upper atmosphere, a latent bug in the guidance system’s coding began to manifest itself, thus causing an error in the system’s floating-point calculation (used to estimate the rocket’s position to its flight path). At this point, the LV begins to deviate from its flight path, which triggers the guidance system to signal to the thrust vector controls that an adjustment via the thrust vectors is required. However, owing to the calculation error, the vector controls begin to compensate beyond the minor adjustment which was actually needed, and thus the LV drifts even further from its flight path. Dr Edgar noted that having been in the room when this occurred, ground control teams immediately sought a remote reboot of the entire guidance system; however, it ultimately failed, and the guidance system continues along the incorrect path.

Admiral Howell confirmed that it was at this moment that the Strategic Defence Agency and the Lodamese Navy had been informed of the situation. He revealed that since the Venfield Space Flight Centre’s construction, a Lodamese Navy guided missile destroyer and/or frigate had been “parked” just off the coast of the site itself, primarily tasked with downing drones and unwelcome airborne/sea-borne targets. With no means of aborting the launch or correcting its path, which had been calculated to be drifting increasingly into Kalistani territorial waters, the LCS-Roy Gregory guided missile destroyer had been ordered to shoot down the rocket using its Conventional Missile-6 (CM-6), its general-purpose anti-ballistic missile. Onlookers from the beach noted that they only became aware of the problem after seeing Vega-2 launch, the destroyer launched a missile a mere five minutes later. “I mean, I saw Vega-2 launch and about like 5 minutes after, I saw the destroyer fire off a missile that looked like it was chasing the rocket. It was actually insane. I was thinking to myself: What is going on? 3-4 minutes after that, we saw a flash in the atmosphere.” 

Admiral Howell noted that the situation did not reflect poorly on the LSA or the SDA/Lodamese Navy, as both entities demonstrated a heightened degree of professionalism and persistent communication, which resulted in the largely favourable outcome. However, he noted that there was room for improvement with respect to faster communication between the two agencies. “One of the immediate recommendations coming out of the situation is to have an SDA liaison attached to all launch missions,” Admiral Howell explained. Some have questioned whether as a result of the situation, the LSA would be suspending launches for the foreseeable future. Dr Edgar noted that such a decision remains under consideration by the agency’s Advisory Board. Secretary of Science and Technology Dr Lloyd Gilmore confirmed that with President Menkyn having been briefed on the event, a determination on whether the agency should continue launches is likely. However, much of the agency’s attention, at this moment, is focused on patching the software bug which triggered the crisis in itself.