It’s a common complaint in the space industry: The new, more fuel-efficient rockets require more fuel to fly, and this strain of fuel will slow the flight of the rocket.
It’s not the first time rocket fuel strains have made headlines.
In the early 2000s, a Russian-built rocket that could take off vertically at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres was grounded after it failed to ignite.
The rocket’s engine was also damaged during the flight, and its flight software did not include a warning that a fuel-strain warning could be triggered if a booster was to fly into the atmosphere.
The engine’s failure is the subject of the upcoming film Space Race: America’s Space Race, due to be released in Australia on May 1.
A Russian-made rocket that was to take off at an altitudes of more 2,500 metres was stopped mid-flight after its fuel strain failed.
The movie’s creators have vowed to bring back the story.
In a recent interview, director Nikolaj Arcel told the BBC that the film was set in the future and that the “failure was due to the fuel strain that was causing it to fail”.
“We were filming in a country that was experiencing a gas crisis,” he said.
The film is being produced by Australia’s state broadcaster and the production company Spaceflight Films, which also produced the Oscar-nominated Space Race 2. “
Arcel told The Independent that the story would focus on the problems faced by the Russian space industry in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“
We’re going to use this to raise the awareness of these issues and hopefully inspire the next generation of Russian rocket scientists and engineers to be successful in the Russian rocket industry,” Arcel said.
