Yet again the engineers at SpaceX amaze me. It’s hard enough to accelerate tons of payload to several miles a second through a soupy fluid and then coast gracefully in blistering and frigid vacuum. They lost an engine on the way up, at about the worst time as far as aerodynamics stresses. Most other rocket designs would have blown to bits. The whole thing is on video:
Bad Astronomy– You can see a bright spot glowing on the upper right engine, then what looks like shrapnel blowing back as well, so it appears something catastrophic happened to the engine. I can think of many things that could’ve caused this – a crack in the engine bell that failed when it got hot, a faulty valve, something in the pipes – but I’m just spitballing; hopefully the folks at SpaceX will be able to determine the cause from the engine telemetry.
Although this looks scary, the engine nozzles are coated with Kevlar to protect them specifically in case something like this occurs, so the other engines continued working. Also, the onboard computer immediately shut down the failed engine, and then on the fly – literally – recalculated all the needed changes to the thrust of the other engines to compensate. In the end, the first stage boost lasted an extra thirty seconds to cover for the failed engine. It’s important again to note that the Dragon capsule was delivered on orbit and will rendezvous with ISS on Wednesday.
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raven
October 8, 2012 at 10:28 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
WOW!!!
I’m glad and, for sure, SpaceX are glad that no one was riding in the capsule for that mission.
sawells
October 8, 2012 at 11:36 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I bet it was a flux capacitor!
Trebuchet
October 8, 2012 at 12:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@raven: Me too. But if there had been people aboard, they’d have been just fine.
fastlane
October 8, 2012 at 1:16 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
According to this statement from the company:
mas528
October 8, 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hell. If people had been on board and this happened, it would be reported as a “miracle” that people survived. And no one would get on SpaceX’s machines.
In this unmanned case, it is a demonstration of engineering excellence. It should build confidence in SpaceX’s work.
F
October 9, 2012 at 6:36 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Gnarly.
Rising Ape
October 9, 2012 at 7:29 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Awesome! These are the things that give me hope for humanity.
leftwingfox
October 9, 2012 at 11:04 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Amazing work, and congratulations to all the SpaceX team who made that possible.