Quote from: John.bender on 09/01/2016 03:54 pmDumb question but what is COPV?http://bfy.tw/7Us0
Dumb question but what is COPV?
Quote from: dorkmo on 09/01/2016 04:09 pmQuote from: cscott on 09/01/2016 04:05 pmPhotos of the pad seem to show the strong back not retracted. Can anyone tell if it looks like the cradle arms were opened? If so, that bounds the time of the incident pretty well.i think its possible the arms we're closed bc it looks like they were bent/pulled downward. not a for sure thing though.or possibly the rods that connect the top section of the TEL to the rest of it deformed from the heat?
Quote from: cscott on 09/01/2016 04:05 pmPhotos of the pad seem to show the strong back not retracted. Can anyone tell if it looks like the cradle arms were opened? If so, that bounds the time of the incident pretty well.i think its possible the arms we're closed bc it looks like they were bent/pulled downward. not a for sure thing though.
Photos of the pad seem to show the strong back not retracted. Can anyone tell if it looks like the cradle arms were opened? If so, that bounds the time of the incident pretty well.
including thermal infrared
..SpaceX will have high res video stream recordings of pad camera from multiple angles,
Well, at least we know it wasn't the rocket engines. This took place before firing. I've heard there were multiple explosions?
No, this is not correct, the supposed ex-employee source on reddit denies that. They state:I'm not exactly allowed to reveal sources. It'll still be months before things settle down, but it was definitely a pad issue.Look it may be baloney, we can't say anything for sure, that's why it's a rumour.
If this is a pad failure then procedures are a likely culprit. Inadequate inspections, checks, etc?If the root cause is traced to a procedural issue, that would goes a long way toward showing why rapid launch cadence is difficult to achieve. So many things have to happen in such rapid succession and in exactly the right order and with exactly the right timing, or else *BOOM*. The answer for why ULA can't launch faster than they do is not just that "old aerospace" is inefficient.
Quote from: spacenut on 09/01/2016 04:59 pmWell, at least we know it wasn't the rocket engines. This took place before firing. I've heard there were multiple explosions? One big explosion, followed by a big fire and a series of secondary explosions. Typical of a fire where multiple pressure vessels are present. - Ed Kyle
Given that booster passed in McGregor.Then transported to ksc.Nothing happened to booster during transit.Then the gse is the only variable.
LV related cause This means all flights grounded and no immediate cause found. Was hopping for a pad fault that couldn't happen at Vanderberg.
Part of me hopes that it's something that is easy to fix. But if it's easy to fix, people will ask "why wasn't it detected?".
The COPV would be bad news as it could imply that SpaceX is unable to fix that issue.
Elon Musk @elonmusk 29s30 seconds agoLoss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.