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SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

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Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#11
post #7
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think publicly they say things like "Big Falcon Rocket".

It comes from the "BFG" from the original Doom games. Edit: fixed... was Doom not Quake :P

Ahem, the BFG 9000 was from Doom.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#12
post #3

For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX: SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly final upgrade…

I don't think you can be certain it's a newer Merlin engine OR that it will delay Block 5.

They do acceptance testing of all their engines, even the current iterations. They've launched literally hundreds of these engines, with multiple tests per engine (and, as an aside, a design for Falcon 9 that is able to survive an engine failure).

They test multiple engines per week, and have the capacity for multiple times that, so losing a test cell for a few weeks need have no impact on the schedule for Block 5.

My take is that this will have essentially no impact on SpaceX's schedule.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#13
post #8

Based on the article it sounds like they have backup capacity that can keep them on track...and the reality is that in space flight these things happen. Better for it to happen on a test stand than in a rocket. I just Wonder if they will try and blame a sniper this time[0]. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/implication-...

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#14
post #3

For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX: SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly final upgrade…

>#2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. Does BFR happen to stand for "big fucking rocket"?

Yes. In polite company, it's "Big Falcon Rocket," but Elon has been perfectly clear about what it actually stands for.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#15
post #3

For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX: SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly final upgrade…

>#2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. Does BFR happen to stand for "big fucking rocket"?

Yes. This is from the same CEO who wanted to name his first 3 models of car "S, E, and X" (the 3 was going to be the model E, but renamed due to ford's trademark).

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#16
This sort of thing does happen in the industry and better during testing than half way up.

but I worry that there will now be an increase in the amount of FUD being pushed in the news. It already seems like the amount of muck being thrown at ANYTHING elon musk related has increased over the last few months.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#17
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It comes from the "BFG" from the original Doom games. Edit: fixed... was Doom not Quake :P

Ahem, the BFG 9000 was from Doom.

Quake II and Q3A did have a BFG10K, though.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#18
post #3

For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX: SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly final upgrade…

I don't think you can be certain it's a newer Merlin engine OR that it will delay Block 5. They do acceptance testing of all their engines, even the current iterations. They've launched literally hundreds of these engines, with multiple tests per engine (and, as an aside, a design for Falcon 9 that is able to survive an engine failure). They test multiple engines per week, and have the capacity for multiple times tha…

Engine failed during qualification testing, not acceptance testing - so it's a new design.

If you don't occasionally blow an engine up on the stand you are either not testing hard enough or not pushing the limits hard enough.

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#19
> The company said Tuesday in response to questions that it is “now conducting a thorough and fully transparent investigation of the root cause” of the explosion. “SpaceX is committed to our current manifest, and we do not expect this to have any impact on our launch cadence.”

Re: SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility

#20
post #3

For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX: SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars. And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly final upgrade…

Is #4 test firing a full size Raptor a possibility?
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