
SpaceX rocket engine explodes during test at Texas facility - runesoerensen
https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/8/16624022/spacex-merlin-rocket-engine-failure-mcgregor-texas-falcon-9
======
mabbo
For those who don't obsessively follow SpaceX:

SpaceX is working on three projects right now. #1- Falcon Heavy, strapping
three Falcon 9s together to make a super awesome rocket. #2- The BFR. All over
the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that does New York to Sydney
in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars.

And #3, they are working on what's being called "Block 5", the supposedly
final upgrade to the Falcon 9 rocket, including upgraded Merlin engines. These
would make the rockets just that much more powerful, increasing payload sizes
on both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.

So, this is probably one of those new Merlin engines. And it exploded. Which
is going to delay Block 5. Damn.

~~~
lightbyte
>#2- The BFR. All over the news lately, going to be a humongous rocket that
does New York to Sydney in under an hour, or take humans to the Moon or Mars.

Does BFR happen to stand for "big fucking rocket"?

~~~
aidenn0
Yes. This is from the same CEO who wanted to name his first 3 models of car
"S, E, and X" (the 3 was going to be the model E, but renamed due to ford's
trademark).

~~~
mikeash
And the one after that will be Y.

I always tell people that BFR stands for "Big Rocket." It's more fun to let
them fill in the blank.

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SAI_Peregrinus
Good that it happened on the test stand instead of in a rocket! Hopefully
they'll have good data on what failed and end up with an improved engine.

~~~
ams6110
That's why they test them.

~~~
valuearb
Yea, its almost a non-event.

When I saw the headline I worried it was a Raptor, that would have been much
more depressing cause it would have set back BFR schedule significantly.

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baq
as usual when talking about exploding rocket engines, go read Ignition! if you
haven't already:
[https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pd...](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf)

~~~
sq_
I love that book so much. My favorite part is the section on chlorine
trifluoride (ClF3):

"It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is
hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition
delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth,
wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which
it reacts explosively.

It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper,
aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal
fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of
oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however,
this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator
is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For
dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running
shoes."

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avs733
Based on the article it sounds like they have backup capacity that can keep
them on track...and the reality is that in space flight these things happen.
Better for it to happen on a test stand than in a rocket. I just Wonder if
they will try and blame a sniper this time[0].

[0]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/implication-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/implication-
of-sabotage-adds-intrigue-to-spacex-
investigation/2016/09/30/5bb60514-874c-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html)

~~~
andrewwharton
> a SpaceX employee visited its facilities at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and asked
> for access to the roof of one of ULA’s buildings.

> The SpaceX representative explained to the ULA officials on site that it was
> trying to run down all possible leads in what was a cordial, not accusatory,
> encounter, according to the industry sources, who spoke on the condition of
> anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

I wouldn't exactly call that trying to blame a sniper.

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jimjimjim
This sort of thing does happen in the industry and better during testing than
half way up.

but I worry that there will now be an increase in the amount of FUD being
pushed in the news. It already seems like the amount of muck being thrown at
ANYTHING elon musk related has increased over the last few months.

~~~
baq
your feelings appear to be right, there was even a discussion about that here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15600878](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15600878)

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speeq
> The company said Tuesday in response to questions that it is “now conducting
> a thorough and fully transparent investigation of the root cause” of the
> explosion. “SpaceX is committed to our current manifest, and we do not
> expect this to have any impact on our launch cadence.”

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shmerl
How is Raptor engine progressing?

