ChocolateClen
Well-known member
As most people know Space X lost a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday morning. The rocket was upright for a static burn test to make sure the rocket didn't have any issues, this also means that the rocket had the Playload attached, a 195million dollar communications satellite called the AMOS-6.
So here's what happened. The rocket sat on the launch pad in an upright position, like it would for the real launch. While it was being loaded with liquid fuel and oxidizer, the second stage exploded. This released hundreds of tons of liquid fuel and oxidizer which readily mixed to create a massive fireball and a loud resonating boom. You can then see the still flaming fuel fall back to earth before the first stage explodes due to integrity issues.
At this point the 200million dollar satellite has nothing to hold itself up except the strong back tower used to secure the rocket, so it falls some 50 odd meters. The satellite fueled by hydrazine crashes into the earth creating yet again another large explosion. (Hydrazine creates a very toxic gas when it burns, the toxicity depends on what it's burned with).
At this point we can conclude that the launch pad is not only unusable, but ruined. The strong back arm has sustained heavy structural damage and there is a continuing investigation as to what happened.
Elon musk stated that if there were crew on board in his new dragon capsule, they would have safely escaped using the dragons built in launch abort systems.
As a side note, this is the biggest rocket explosion in the history of the United States.
So here's what happened. The rocket sat on the launch pad in an upright position, like it would for the real launch. While it was being loaded with liquid fuel and oxidizer, the second stage exploded. This released hundreds of tons of liquid fuel and oxidizer which readily mixed to create a massive fireball and a loud resonating boom. You can then see the still flaming fuel fall back to earth before the first stage explodes due to integrity issues.
At this point the 200million dollar satellite has nothing to hold itself up except the strong back tower used to secure the rocket, so it falls some 50 odd meters. The satellite fueled by hydrazine crashes into the earth creating yet again another large explosion. (Hydrazine creates a very toxic gas when it burns, the toxicity depends on what it's burned with).
At this point we can conclude that the launch pad is not only unusable, but ruined. The strong back arm has sustained heavy structural damage and there is a continuing investigation as to what happened.
Elon musk stated that if there were crew on board in his new dragon capsule, they would have safely escaped using the dragons built in launch abort systems.
As a side note, this is the biggest rocket explosion in the history of the United States.
