A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral • Hacker News Board

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#61

Post by tomjen3 » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

There were no personal injuries, so I can't really be sad about a piece of electronics.

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#62

Post by Symmetry » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:45 PM UTC

The payload was apparently on the rocket at the time[1]. A $200 million loss there, which sucks for the insurance company but better than losing a $2b custom government bird.

[1]https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/771352977315684352...

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#63

Post by joshdotsmith » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:46 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #61

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

There were no personal injuries, so I can't really be sad about a piece of electronics.

That's tons of work. Lots of heart and soul went into that. I can still be sad for people even if we didn't lose people.

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#64

Post by TFortunato » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:46 PM UTC

rst wrote: post #46

avian wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it's not like that. Pressure relief valves aren't exactly rocket science.

Do you know of any off-the-shelf that are qualified as reliable at the temperatures of cryogenic fluids? (F9 LOX is believed to be at roughly -200 Centigrade, or around 70 Kelvin.)

I can't think of the manufacturer of the top of my head, but there are definitely off-the-shelf options. They are used on the LN2 tanks and dewars you see at a lot of electronics (and I'm sure other) manufacturers, and I'm pretty sure are standard kit for any cryogenic vessel. I think the bigger issue, as one commentor alluded to, is that you might not want to vent whatever is in the rocket straight to atmosphere.

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#65

Post by nateberkopec » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:46 PM UTC

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

I know nothing about space - why are they doing tests, where the rocket could possibly explode or fail, with the payload on board?

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#66

Post by ars » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:47 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #61

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

There were no personal injuries, so I can't really be sad about a piece of electronics.

Tell that to the people in Africa who will soon have no internet access once AMOS-2 fails.

This payload, AMOS-6, was a replacement for the soon to fail AMOS-2 which among other things is part of a Facebook initiative to provide internet access in parts of Africa.

I am not aware of any replacement in the works for it, so that service may just shut down, and who knows if it will ever start back up.

So while this might be "nothing" to you, it has actual repercussions for people.

Not to mention the effects on the Israeli company that made the payload. Insurance may or may not pay for the satellite itself (I don't know), but even if they do, they were also relying on income generated from running it.

Actual humans working for that company may now be impacted.

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#67

Post by artursapek » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:48 PM UTC

joshdotsmith wrote: post #63

tomjen3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were no personal injuries, so I can't really be sad about a piece of electronics.

That's tons of work. Lots of heart and soul went into that. I can still be sad for people even if we didn't lose people.

Not to mention money. $200MM investment into space, gone.

https://www.reddit.com/live/xix3m9uqd06g/updates/613f262a-70...

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#68

Post by TylerE » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

nateberkopec wrote: post #65

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

I know nothing about space - why are they doing tests, where the rocket could possibly explode or fail, with the payload on board?

The payload is probably loaded in a clean-room type environment.

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#69

Post by dlgeek » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:50 PM UTC

The reddit live thread seems to be the best source of current informations and updates: https://www.reddit.com/live/xix3m9uqd06g

Re: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded at Cape Canaveral

#70

Post by yawz » Thu, Sep 01, 2016, 2:50 PM UTC

nateberkopec wrote: post #65

artursapek wrote: post #51

Looks like they had a payload go with it. Sad. > "SpaceX confirm Amos-6 was aboard the Falcon 9 and was lost in the explosion." https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/77135388623807283...

I know nothing about space - why are they doing tests, where the rocket could possibly explode or fail, with the payload on board?

That was my first reaction. I thought they could create a dummy payload with the same dimensions and weight. But, then... unless the weight distribution of the payload is important.