I want to know what exploded - I wouldn't have expected it to have very much leftover fuel at that point...
SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
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Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#12I want to know what exploded - I wouldn't have expected it to have very much leftover fuel at that point...
Rocket fuel/oxidiser together are pretty explosive (by their very nature) - even if it was just leftover vapour in an otherwise empty tank.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#13I want to know what exploded - I wouldn't have expected it to have very much leftover fuel at that point...
This is the an explosion of 5 gallons of petrol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C72bv2YhZ6A
Doesn't take that much to make an impressive bang.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#14Technically, it exploded well before it delivered the satellite. edit to add some facts since this seems to be getting downvoted pretty quickly: Stage 1 landed and exploded at around T+10min, the satellite was deployed at T+56min. This was just two minutes after it was delivered on its final orbit. Both of those could be considered "delivered to space", neither of which happened before the failed landing.
You're being downvoted because it's a stupid assertion and it's "technically" not even the same craft at that point.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#15I want to know what exploded - I wouldn't have expected it to have very much leftover fuel at that point...
The rocket runs out of usable fuel, but that doesn't mean that it is empty. If for no other reason the turbo pumps would probably get damaged beyond repair if you run the tank bone dry. Also it's not just fuel, but oxygen too in the right ratio.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#16Technically, it exploded well before it delivered the satellite. edit to add some facts since this seems to be getting downvoted pretty quickly: Stage 1 landed and exploded at around T+10min, the satellite was deployed at T+56min. This was just two minutes after it was delivered on its final orbit. Both of those could be considered "delivered to space", neither of which happened before the failed landing.
You're being downvoted because it's a stupid assertion and it's "technically" not even the same craft at that point.
The title presented it as if it were a single craft at all times. Of course "delivering 2nd stage to space" would sound silly, but I'm sure the title could be worded factually correct and still be simple and informative (as titles should be).
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#17That was pretty much exactly what I expected to see from the video given the description of a broken landing leg yesterday.
Elon's twitter comment about the ice is interesting because it adds some interesting twists. If the stage is icing up as it descends it would change the mass calculation, however it does not seem to shed ice when it lands in the video. He suggested that ice at launch may have interfered with leg locking, which would mean that ice survived travelling supersonically through the atmosphere. But hard to figure how that could be.
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're being downvoted because it's a stupid assertion and it's "technically" not even the same craft at that point.
The title presented it as if it were a single craft at all times. Of course "delivering 2nd stage to space" would sound silly, but I'm sure the title could be worded factually correct and still be simple and informative (as titles should be).
"SpaceX booster explodes during recovery, payload delivery unhindered"
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#19a) isn't this from last year? IIRC they had two failed barge landings. This looks like the first one. b) The headline makes this sound like a miserable failure - still beats "fell into the ocean never to be found again", as all other current first stages do.
new launch. they need the barge for heavier payloads, because it costs much more fuel to go all the way back, so they'll keep testing. Musk posted an early statement blaming icing due to bad weather conditions. https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/ ...and of course press is overly sensationalistic. nothing new there to report.
In this case, they had enough fuel to return to the launch site but they used the barge because they couldn't get permission to return to Vandenburg. http://observer.com/2016/01/breaking-spacex-fails-a-third-ti...
Re: SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space
#20At least the barge looks like it should be reusable.