Masten Space Systems suffered a crash of their XA-0.1 experimental spacecraft during flight testing. A spokesperson for Masten stated that, "The vehicle lifted off and appeared to be under control - not very good control mind you - but the control system was trying to do the right things at the right time for a bit. It climbed to about 20′ AGL when I concluded that the control wasn’t right and shut down the engines. The vehicle then fell, either hitting the tether limit or the vehicle landing gear clipping the edge of the pad. The structure broke off between the electronics bay and the rest of the vehicle. The tanks and propulsion section hit the ground, broke an engine mounting structure and broke one of the landing gear. The electronics bay was still swinging from the tether. Here is what the scene looked like as the dust cloud moved out of the way. "
There were no injuries as a result of the accident and Masten is considering various options for moving forward. The two options that are being considered include either finishing XA-0.2 or building another low performance vehicle from the surviving parts. XA-0.2 is already designed and being built, but I think it is a higher risk for being damaged in flight test.
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