SpaceX Rocket Engine Explodes During Test: Report

Space.com ^ | November 8, 2017 02:48pm ET | Mike Wall,

[BenLurkin]

The explosion occurred during a "qualification test" of a Merlin engine, the type that powers SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the Post reported. (The two-stage Falcon 9 has nine Merlins in its first stage and one in its upper stage.)

SpaceX has suspended engine testing while it investigates what caused the incident, which didn't injure anyone, the Post added. In a statement provided to the Post, SpaceX representatives said they didn't expect the explosion to affect the company's launch schedule.

SpaceX has experience investigating accidents. In September 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad during a routine preflight test, destroying the rocket and its payload, the Amos-6 communications satellite. The company traced the problem to a design flaw in one of the helium canisters inside the rocket's second-stage liquid-oxygen tank.

In June 2015, a Falcon 9 broke apart less than 3 minutes after liftoff, scuttling an uncrewed cargo run to the International Space Station by SpaceX's Dragon capsule. That accident was caused by the failure of a single steel strut inside the second stage, the company determined.

[marron]

I thought the same thing. When they landed on the moon, I thought to myself, by the time I’m in my forties we’ll be standing on Mars. I’m a lot older than that now, and if anyone does it in my lifetime it won’t be NASA.

[ctdonath2]

Lies! My childhood dreams ruined! It was all lies!

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, a Merlin engine, not what I was expecting to read. A helium problem arose before, and is one of the motivations to move on into the Raptor engine design, which burns subcooled methane. Thanks BenLurkin.

[exit82]

Grew up during the 60s, with the space program.

After watching 2001: A Space Odyssey/Star Trek/ The Moon Landing in 1969, space travel was going to be in the very near future for regular folks.

I figured by the 1990s at the latest, I would be staying at an orbiting Hilton Hotel, under a glass canopy, by the pool, watching the Earth turn.

[SunkenCiv]

if Elon had SpaceX stick to what it's good at, the company would own the worldwide launch business. His fixation on Mars is going to destroy his ability to get there. Also, he's full of crap when he flips off "living on Mars will be the easy part" -- if he manages to build even one of the Big Falcon Rockets and send people to Mars, most if not all of them are going to die there sooner rather than later, and he'll find no one to continue to write him checks, and he'll be going to prison.