Australian Rocket Launch Actually Cancelled By a Less Cute, More Mundane Fault

Australian launch provider Gilmour Space Technologies had to cancel a mission in May thanks to a nosy little bird, or so the internet had hoped.

On May 16th, Gilmour Space cancelled the mission when an electrical fault triggered deployment of the rocket’s payload fairing prior to fueling. With the issue discovered, Gilmour put off the launch for a later date and got to work trying to figure out what went wrong. Not long after, the company’s social media posted a whimsical still frame from one of their myriad system cameras, found as they methodically scrubbed through each and every second of footage for the problem’s cause.

“Amazing what an anomaly investigation will uncover…” they said, posting a picture of an Australian Cockatoo nosing around in some unspecified cabling. They clarified that the Cockatoo was not at fault, adding “PS: While the struggle is real, no… the cockatoo was not the root cause of the anomaly.”

Cockatoos are remarkably smart, nosy, and troublesome birds, and Australia’s got legions of them. Anyone living in the city has stories of the damage they can cause, gnawing soft woods and prying into food containers as they please. But this incident can’t be chalked up to their antics – There’s nothing of interest to a Cockatoo around the launch site, and unless there’s peanut butter in those hydraulic lines, the bird likely took a test nibble and lost interest.

But the photo is a lesson in a good story overpowering the truth, as outlets the world over took the cute picture as proof of delay. In truth, the payload fairing was triggered “during a vehicle shutdown by an unexpected power surge, caused by electrical backfeed from downstream devices," leaving the poor bird unfairly accused.

But hey, it’s a cute picture, no?

FMI: www.gspace.com, www.x.com