Was the launch rocket supposed to be one of their recovered/recycled rockets?
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
321–330 of 560 posts
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They do the tests to validate that this rocket won't turn into a cruise missile, headed for the nearest residential area. In that case the rocket has a flight-termination system, though, which should activate as soon as it veers too far outside the planned/expected parameters of the flight.
For more context, all (edit: American!) rockets for decades have had onboard self destruct systems and a "Range Safety Officer" on the ground whose entire job is to determine if and when to deploy this self destruct system. The cruise missile scenario is highly unlikely as the rocket itself would be destroyed soon after leaving its intended trajectory.
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Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#323For all developers of anything. Repeat this mantra. This is why we test, this is why we test, this is why we test. It is especially important to repeat this mantra around management types who want last minute builds before going in front of important customers, because the light blue button looks SO much better then the dark blue button...
they do test. space rockets are hard.
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#324Here's good video of the test/failure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BgJEXQkjNQ#t=1m10s
No sign of a fire extinguishing or pad deluge system, such as NASA had for the shuttle. Maybe Space-X needs that. Fire crews can't approach until the fire burns itself out - too toxic.
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can get cheap consumer cameras now with pretty absurd zooms. The $600 Nikon P900 [1] has an 83x optical zoom lens, giving it the 35mm-equivalent focal length of 24-2000mm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SC_2yD6wKk . [1] https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1127274-REG/nikon_264...
How good is the photo quality? Is it close to entry-level DSLRs'?
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
For crying out loud, have you never heard of insurance? All satellite launches are insured and contingencies like this are allowed for in contracts because rocketry is an inherently risky endeavor. I know HN is a tech rather than a business community but the concept of insurance is an elementary one and something every literate adult should be aware of.
Insurance was only for post ignition, there will be no insurance payout for this accident.
Anyone know if the satellite owner took out pre-launch and transit insurance? That's a separate insurance cover from launch insurance. Satellite launch insurance starts at normal ignition and usually ends with the satellite in the desired orbit.[1]
[1] https://www.marsh.com/uk/industries/aviation-aerospace/space...
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
For crying out loud, have you never heard of insurance? All satellite launches are insured and contingencies like this are allowed for in contracts because rocketry is an inherently risky endeavor. I know HN is a tech rather than a business community but the concept of insurance is an elementary one and something every literate adult should be aware of.
Insurance was only for post ignition, there will be no insurance payout for this accident.
source?
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#328Here's good video of the test/failure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BgJEXQkjNQ#t=1m10s
Updates... Elon tweeted: "Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon." [1] SpaceX tweeted: "At approximately 9:07 am ET, during a standard pre-launch static fire test for the AMOS-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle. The anomaly originated around…
Upper stage, so, unrelated to the reused first stage.
Rocketry is hard... And very unforgiving.
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
For crying out loud, have you never heard of insurance? All satellite launches are insured and contingencies like this are allowed for in contracts because rocketry is an inherently risky endeavor. I know HN is a tech rather than a business community but the concept of insurance is an elementary one and something every literate adult should be aware of.
Insurance was only for post ignition, there will be no insurance payout for this accident.
Elon was talking of SpaceX's insurance. Read: SpaceX won't be recovering the cost of the launch vehicle or the payload.
Spacecomm likely has their own insurance. Hopefully more details on this will emerge.
Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Apollo 1 accident[0] was during a similar test (a "plugs out test", which tests the spacecraft independent of all the support systems on earth to verify that it works correctly on its own). The rationale behind all this tests is "better have a problem on the ground, where we can fix it, than have the spacecraft fail in space". If you get interest in this stuff, the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" has…
I haven't seen it in a long time, but +1 on the recommendation. I need to go borrow the DVDs from my parents and watch it again.
The series is awesome, but the book on which it's based is even better: Andrew Chaikin's "A Man On The Moon".