SpaceX explosion on pad

[Thebobo]

Looks like about 10+ years since I last checked in here.
Watching the video, it's just after the upper stage begins to vent GOX (Gaseous Oxygen) while being filled with LOX (Liquid Oxygen) that it pops. Since it's a Kero-Lox regenerator system, it could have been a leak at the umbilical that allowed contact of the Oxygen with RP-1 propellant fuel -which could have spontaneously combined to ignite, or even the presence of trace residue lubricants, which also could have reacted that way.
There are many reasons that lubricants are banned for use in oxygen rich systems, even in cabin crew masks for commercial pilots as well as military aircraft.

Didn't know about the lubricant issue. Nice write up and welcome back. I read this interesting snippet in Sabrewings link. That's a lot of Data.

We are currently in the early process of reviewing approximately 3000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a time period of just 35-55 milliseconds.

 

[Paratus]

I wouldn't call this scientific but someone overlaid the dragon abort footage over the static fire test explosion, (excuse me "fast fire resulting in an unscheduled rapid disassembly of the vehicle followed by extreme lithobraking of the payload" )

Looks to me like the abort capability would've been enough to save the crew if it detected whatever this failure was:

 

[Miramonti]

Yesterday, at SpaceX's Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, an anomaly took place about eight minutes in advance of a scheduled test firing of a Falcon 9 rocket.

'Anomaly' sounds much more sophisticated and contained than 'explosion'. Just like the beans I had last night, followed by multiple anomalies.

 

[MongGrel]

'Anomaly' sounds much more sophisticated and contained than 'explosion'. Just like the beans I had last night, followed by multiple anomalies.

On a side note, Spacecom stock seems to be taking a hit atm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-blast-spacecom-idUSKCN11A0YV

 

[PottedMeat]

On a side note, Spacecom stock seems to be taking a hit atm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-blast-spacecom-idUSKCN11A0YV

interesting they're in the middle of a possible merger

Net worth

US$12.5 billion (August 2016)

anyone guess how much liquid cash musk has? i wonder if he could just dump $300+M around to quiet the unhappy customers and get back to work.

 

[Brovane]

anyone guess how much liquid cash musk has? i wonder if he could just dump $300+M around to quiet the unhappy customers and get back to work.

Why would he? The satellite had insurance for pre-launch activities.

 

[MongGrel]

I like a lot of the things Musk is involved in, but he seems to not really making much of a profit lately. But he's never been one to worry about that too much I guess, and has a lot more cash than I will ever see in my lifetime.

He is into that iteration a lot, apparently his backers trust what he is doing.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I actually like that he's not so focused on profit. I don't imagine SpaceX is that profitable, even when everything is successful, it's an expensive operation to run, he does it because he likes it, more than for the money, I imagine. Maybe Facebook can just RMA the satellite and get a new one. "it was like this in the box!"

 

[zinfamous]

I actually like that he's not so focused on profit. I don't imagine SpaceX is that profitable, even when everything is successful, it's an expensive operation to run, he does it because he likes it, more than for the money, I imagine. Maybe Facebook can just RMA the satellite and get a new one. "it was like this in the box!"

It is why SpaceX isn't public right now and shouldn't be...for a long time, hopefully. Bowing to the whims of shareholders when trying to revolutionize something as complicated as commercial space travel--the planned failures and cost of such failures is never conducive to dimwitted and short-sighted shareholders.

 

[who?]

SpaceX had to be the lowest bidder to get the contract so you shouldn't expect lots of profit.

 

[Phoenix86]

SpaceX had to be the lowest bidder to get the contract so you shouldn't expect lots of profit.

There aren't a lot of bidders in the market....

 

[Thebobo]

Given the recent horrible attack on Swiss S3 CEO Pascal Jaussi and aledge industrial espionage attacks on his company, wonder if Sabotage is being looked into this and other failures? I realize that's into the wacky conspiratorial realm but some one has been threatening his company and himself . And last week they beat the crap out of Pascal, set him on fire and left him for dead.

The attack was extremely violent: a man beaten, strangled, bound in his car, doused with alcohol or gasoline, and burned alive. The scenereported by our colleagues 24h , is terrifying. Pascal Jaussi, CEO of the startup Swiss Space Systems (S3), almost died a few days ago following the attack on his person by two strangers. Still hospitalized in a serious situation, even if his days no longer seem in danger, the French-speaking entrepreneur lived a spell once thought reserved for films crime.

Full article - translate to english,

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's quite terrible.

There actually is a conspiracy going on that it was a UFO lol. In one of the videos there is some weird thing that can be seen. May just be a bird or something, but I suppose it definitely is worth looking into. Could be a small drone? I imagine they have sophisticated radars around the entire area to check for stuff like that though, before and during the launch. It's worth looking at every possible aspect either way.

Personally, I blame Richard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1_17uiCGzs

 

[Ken g6]

is a conspiracy going on that it was a UFO lol. In one of the videos there is some weird thing that can be seen. May just be a bird or something

Birds can damage spacecraft. http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-70/woodpecker.html

 

[MongGrel]

Birds can damage spacecraft. http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-70/woodpecker.html

Heh, I'd forgotten that one.

 

[Linux23]

I wonder if their insurance premiums are going to increase

I think they were insured with GEICO. Or maybe it was Allstate? That black guy on TV said they offered accident forgiveness, no?

 

[Thebobo]

Looks like the industrial sabotage theory is gaining some ground. From the Washington Post.

Implication of sabotage adds intrigue to SpaceX investigation

The long-running feud between Elon Musk’s space company and its fierce competitor United Launch Alliance took a bizarre twist this month when a SpaceX employee visited its facilities at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and asked for access to the roof of one of ULA’s buildings.

About two weeks earlier, one of SpaceX’s rockets blew up on a launchpad while it was awaiting an engine test. As part of the investigation, SpaceX officials had come across something suspicious they wanted to check out, according to three industry officials with knowledge of the episode. SpaceX had still images from video that appeared to show an odd shadow, then a white spot on the roof of a nearby building belonging to ULA, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Read on

 

[Red Squirrel]

Damn. i heard that theory but never actually considered it a possibility. There are some videos that do seem to show some kind of projectile, I always just dismissed it as a bird, or maybe a bug that is closer to the camera, or something. If it is actually sabotage, it's good news for SpaceX though, it means it's less likely something wrong with their hardware, if anything.

 

[TechBoyJK]

 

[Elixer]

Looks like the industrial sabotage theory is gaining some ground. From the Washington Post.

Implication of sabotage adds intrigue to SpaceX investigation


Read on

This is highly doubtful, do you really think that ULA would risk everything to sabotage a competitor's rocket?

 

[Phoenix86]

Congress members question whether SpaceX should conduct its own investigation

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-investigation-20160929-snap-story.html

Ten Republican Congress members led by Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) have sent a letter to the heads of the Air Force, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration questioning whether SpaceX should be allowed to lead its own investigation into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and a communications satellite.

I'll give you 3 guesses which congressman represents the district ULA HQ is in.

 

[Brovane]

Congress members question whether SpaceX should conduct its own investigation

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-investigation-20160929-snap-story.html

Ten Republican Congress members led by Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) have sent a letter to the heads of the Air Force, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration questioning whether SpaceX should be allowed to lead its own investigation into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and a communications satellite.

I'll give you 3 guesses which congressman represents the district ULA HQ is in.

Counter letter signed by 24-members of Congress supporting the FAA decision to allow SpaceX to lead the investigation.

http://flores.house.gov/uploadedfiles/faa-usaf-nasa-letter-20160930.pdf

 

[Elixer]

Congress members question whether SpaceX should conduct its own investigation

Why should they be the lead to conducting their own investigation though?
It should be a 3rd party with no axe to grind.

When planes or cars or trains crash, the company that made them is involved, but, they are NOT the lead investigators on what went wrong!

 

[Brovane]

Why should they be the lead to conducting their own investigation though?
It should be a 3rd party with no axe to grind.

When planes or cars or trains crash, the company that made them is involved, but, they are NOT the lead investigators on what went wrong!

What is the key is classification of the "incident". When you have a "incident" without any loss of life or injury then yes usually the company owning the hardware is the lead for investigation. In the case of AMOS-6, the FAA categories this as a "mishap" because no loss of life or injury occurred. SpaceX is the best one qualified to investigate their own hardware and they have a key interest in finding out what went wrong. If their would have been loss of life or major injuries, SpaceX wouldn't be leading the investigation. All these procedures have already been established under FAA rules in regards to space launch.

SpaceX isn't even required to conclude the investigation before their next launch. A key customer of SpaceX is Iridium and they have already announced that they are ok with SpaceX launching their satellite before the investigative is concluded.

 

[freeskier93]

Why should they be the lead to conducting their own investigation though?
It should be a 3rd party with no axe to grind.

When planes or cars or trains crash, the company that made them is involved, but, they are NOT the lead investigators on what went wrong!

So if SpaceX had an axe to grind it would be with... themselves?

What would SpaceX have to gain by not fully investigating or trying to figure out what happened? It would only hurt them more if it happens again because they didn't figure it out.

Also planes, trains, and cars are not operated and owned by the companies that make them, and generally speaking involve loss of life or injury. SpaceX has every right to lead the investigation on their rocket that they own and operate.

Also, also, bringing in a bunch of government investigators who know fuckall about your rocket is hardly going to lead to an efficient investigation.