Posted on 10/29/2014 3:09:10 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As investigators began their work, they will be looking at the explosion of an AJ-26 engine – the same model as the two propelling the Antares rocket – during tests at Nasa's Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi in May. The AJ-26 engines were built by Soviet scientists for their failed Moon exploration programme in the 1970s but then mothballed for decades. They were subsequently bought and refurbished by a US company and have been used successfully in several rocket launches.
...
Investigators from the US government and the rocket company Orbital Sciences have given no indication yet of what caused Tuesday night's explosion of the $200 million (£125 million) Antares and its 5,000lb cargo. Asked about the possible role of the engines, Frank Culbertson, Orbital's vice-president, said: "We need to go through this investigation and be very thorough before we determine whether that's a factor in this or not."
The age and origin of the refurbished engines were already under scrutiny.
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Mr Culbertson urged curious onlookers and local people to stay away from the accident site and not to touch debris or try to pick up souvenirs.
"The investigation will include evaluating the debris that we will find around the launch pad and everything associated with that," Mr Culbertson said.
"I do want to caution the public, this is an accident site and it's a rocket and it had a lot of hazardous materials on board that people should not be looking for or wanting to collect souvenirs over. If you find anything that washes ashore in the local area or came down in your farm or in your yard, please make sure that you call local authorities."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I’d focus on the spark.....
Like those early V-2 launch attempts where the rocket gets a few inches off the pad, then topples over & with a big splash of fuel it all goes KABOOM!!!
It doesn’t take rocket science to know that using obsolete Soviet rocket engines probably isn’t a good idea.
108% is part of the planned liftoff. It’s a throttle setting, not a thrust measurement.
Refurbished 70s era Soviet rocket motors.
Wow had no idea.
Did Gorby have a surplus sale after the USSR imploded?
I wonder if it might have something to do with the delayed launch. The oxygen is “supercooled” and plays a role in cooling the engine. To me it raises the question of whether the refueling created some kind of condition different than the routine launch sequence.
Apparently so. Using them seems like a pretty smart idea to me — so long as they get a decent rebuild (and no people are launched using them)
The new and improved Obama space program...1970’s army surplus engines from Russia. He is keeping his promise of transforming America.
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