My favorite part of this story:

“The rocket terminated the flight after judging that the achievement of its mission would be difficult.”

“Man, this is too hard, better explode!”

  • Admiral PatrickEnglish
    9•8 months ago

    I’m not clear on this particular one, but I believe there can be both. Onboard sensors can initiate flight termination as well as a ground-based range safety officer.

    Edit: Yeah. Looks like there have been autonomous methods since about 1998.

    An autonomous flight termination system (AFTS) or autonomous flight safety system (AFSS) is a system in which the rocket’s flight computer can command flight termination without depending on ground personnel.

    • @WrenchEnglish
      6•8 months ago

      Which in itself is a failsafe in case communication is disrupted. These are good things.