Falcon 9 Rocket Explodes on Launch Test (1 Viewer)

[dtc]

Routine test fire for a launch that went up in smoke.

SpaceX explosion occurred during rocket-engine test; EOC: No threat to public

While not exactly a "yuge" deal I can certainly say that in the next few weeks there will be plenty of "theories" regarding this event.
I am getting a new tinfoil hat for this one!


Obligatory - It's Florida

Edit: Updated title to give a bit more info.

It was loaded up with Kilarry's emails and she used the magnetic power of the sun to force galactic lightning to destroy the vessel.

 

[Goatman Saint]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=_BgJEXQkjNQ


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[Homebrew11]

Fitting it's named the Falcon and it blew up.....Falcon = Failure 99% of the time

 

[krakkan]

Was carrying a 200 million dollar satellite for Facebook that was going to bring free Internet to millions of people without Internet in third world countries. So donning my tin foil hat. Quite few countries I could see like keeping their people in the dark 😎😎😎😎

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[coldseat]

Wow. That explosion was unreal. Holy Cow!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_BgJEXQkjNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Goatman Saint]

I was under the impression that the struts just weren't built properly to meet their certification load. That's a quality escape by the supplier. And if SpaceX was a stringent as LMT, they'd have tested one strut to verify the materials were good, and the processing was good vs just accepting on cert.



I couldn't find anything saying the struts were re-designed. There was speculation they could be re-designed or use a different supplier to mitigate the issue, but the exact cause was never stated. Best I ran across was something about "grain structure", which we'd normally call Microstructure. Perhaps it was faulty heat treatment, or the part has a weld and they didn't do a post weld heat treatment. If that's the case, a simple hardness test on the component would have caught it.

I asked my son for sure. He knows

Edit---

He said the design was changed to provide better strength and the metal supplier was changed.

This latest explosion he believes at this point was a faulty tank that was either damaged in manufacturing or transport is the working guess right now.


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[Saint_Ward]

I asked my son for sure. He knows

Edit---

He said the design was changed to provide better strength and the metal supplier was changed.

This latest explosion he believes at this point was a faulty tank that was either damaged in manufacturing or transport is the working guess right now.


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I'd guess the material supplier didn't heat treat the steel properly. i.e. bought it solutionized (or annealed) and didn't get it hardened and tempered.

Otherwise, "grain structure" makes little sense to me.

 

[MGC]

Hope the Falcons season goes like this.

 

[Devildog]

That was a hell of an explosion.

 

[TenTwo]

That was a hell of an explosion.

Yes it was. I work at CCAFS. I was with my boss right next the anomaly site minutes before it exploded. I felt the explosion in my office and looked outside to see billowing smoke. There were several explosions, it was a pretty scary event because we were all worried that someone might be hurt. Very thankful there were no injuries.

 

[Alan]

I have no theories. I see it as an accident. I am referencing the wild theories that will follow. I will pop a link to a really good theory if I see one, proving that ANY story is illuminati's fault or aliens, or Bilderberg, or Khazain (sp) Mafia, or Obama's......

Predictable...no?

Aliens

UFO Sightings Hotspot

Obama

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2108.htm

Gotta admit, that one had me smiling.

Edit: More theories to follow as the human imagination machine hit's ludicrous speed.

 

[superchuck500]

Predictable...no?

Aliens

UFO Sightings Hotspot

Obama

China Enraged After Obama Orders SpaceX Rocket Destroyed On Florida Launch Pad

Gotta admit, that one had me smiling.

Edit: More theories to follow as the human imagination machine hit's ludicrous speed.

Okay, so maybe not one of your tin-foil hat conspiracies, but the idea of old-school "sabotage by competitor" is growing in support.

SpaceX has been investigating the early September failure of a Falcon 9 rocket that caught fire and exploded on a Cape Canaveral launch pad just days before it was scheduled to launch.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the inquiry has taken a "bizarre twist," suggesting SpaceX is considering sabotage a possible cause of the explosion. According to the Post, a SpaceX employee sought access to facilities belonging to SpaceX competitor United Launch Alliance — a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

SpaceX investigators came across something suspicious when reviewing video of the failure—"an odd shadow and then a white spot" on the roof of a ULA building, according to the Post. A SpaceX employee seeking access to the building was turned away, but Air Force investigators later dispatched to the facility did not find anything on the roof.

SpaceX sent a statement CNBC saying that a "preliminary review of the data and debris suggests a breach in the second stage's helium system" on the Falcon 9, "but the cause of the breach is still unknown."

Sabotage speculation gathers around SpaceX explosion