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Anonymous ID: 0cd9d2 May 4, 2019, 6:55 p.m. No.6416411   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6539 >>6731 >>6936 >>7010

SpaceX Finally Confirms Astronaut Capsule "Destroyed" From April 20 Explosion

 

Breaking a nearly two week's long silence about what it called an "anomaly" - a massive explosion by any other name - SpaceX has finally confirmed the "explosion and destruction" of an astronaut capsule during testing on April 20. It also seemed to confirm that leaked video of the explosion we had reported on was in fact accurate, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

 

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability, says that it is still the company's mission to put astronauts in space by the end of the year this year, a timeline that looks increasingly pessimistic given the massive setback the company suffered on April 20. SpaceX is still pulling together data from the explosion that occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station nearly two weeks ago.

 

“The vehicle was destroyed,” Koenigsmann said.

 

The capsule had previously launched to the International Space Station in March and was going through its normal tests on April 20. The Draco engines were fired in two sets successfully, but the capsule's SuperDraco thrusters, which are used for emergencies, appeared to be the cause of a malfunction.

 

A major explosion that sent up "clouds of orange smoke" ensued. SpaceX says that the wind was blowing in the right direction so "harmful chemicals" from the explosion blew away from the land - so much for saving the environment.

 

Koenigsmann continued:

 

“That is why we test. If this has to happen, I’d rather it happen on the ground in the development program. I believe what we learn from this test will make us basically a better company and Dragon 2 at the end a better vehicle, a safer vehicle.”

 

As the investigation is now working through a second week, SpaceX said it’s still “too early to confirm any cause.” It does, however, have a couple of ideas as what could have happened thanks to the significant amount of data that has been collected from the vehicle and the ground sensors.

 

Koenigsmann says he doesn’t believe that there’s an issue with the thrusters themselves, since they have gone through about 600 prior tests in the past with no issue. In fact, the explosion happened about half a second before the thrusters were set to ignite. SpaceX also says it is certain that none of the issues were with components that are also found on the company's cargo version of Dragon, the vehicle that is set to launch today to the International Space Station, carrying more than 5,500 pounds of crew supplies, hardware and experiments.

 

“Only a few parts are really the same,” Koenigsmann said.

 

One of the first things the teams looked at was whether or not the explosion with the capsule meant anything with the cargo could be at risk. And the spacecraft that SpaceX will use to carry supplies to the International Space Station has already flown there in the past.

 

Kenny Todd, ISS mission operations integration manager said:

 

“We were able to get our arms around the common areas that we had to look at, that they had to look at. At the end of the day, we didn’t see any change in our overall measurable risk.”

 

Shown below, four pairs of SuperDraco engines power the Crew Dragon's escape system. SpaceX has been developing SuperDraco thrusters for the better part of a decade to enable human flights on board Dragon, according to ARSTechnica. But this recent incident will have NASA continuing to scrutinize these thrusters closely.

SpaceX also doesn’t believe that the anomaly was a result of anything that happened to the capsule during its first test mission in March. But alas, it seems as though everything is still on the table.

 

“I've done a lot of anomaly investigations by now, and whatever I knew in the second week was never really was happened to be resolved in the end,” Koenismann said.

 

This setback could mean additional delays to NASA's commercial crew program, which plans to return astronauts to space for the first time since 2011.

 

SpaceX was granted $2.6 billion from NASA to build Crew Dragon and was supposed to perform an in-flight abort test next with the vehicle that was destroyed. That would’ve been followed by a test, accompanied by crew, to the International Space Station as early as July. SpaceX has several other vehicles in various stages of production, but if the company has to go back and make changes to those spacecraft, it could still wind up costing the project more time.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-04/spacex-finally-confirms-astronaut-capsule-destroyed-april-20-explosion