Did fueling procedures cause Falcon 9 launchpad explosion?
This Wall Street Journal article today speculates that “problematic fueling procedures” might have caused the September 1 Falcon 9 launchpad explosion.
Company officials have said it is too early to arrive at definitive answers, though one person familiar with the investigation said initial concerns about potentially substandard welds have been relegated to a low priority. If testing bears out early findings focusing on problematic fueling practices instead of hardware flaws, SpaceX likely will avoid a major redesign effort or extensive quality-control checks that could drag on for months.
Caution must be exercised here. The article depends on unnamed sources, and does not provide any details describing how fueling procedures could have caused the explosion.
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This Wall Street Journal article today speculates that “problematic fueling procedures” might have caused the September 1 Falcon 9 launchpad explosion.
Company officials have said it is too early to arrive at definitive answers, though one person familiar with the investigation said initial concerns about potentially substandard welds have been relegated to a low priority. If testing bears out early findings focusing on problematic fueling practices instead of hardware flaws, SpaceX likely will avoid a major redesign effort or extensive quality-control checks that could drag on for months.
Caution must be exercised here. The article depends on unnamed sources, and does not provide any details describing how fueling procedures could have caused the explosion.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The WSJ article is behind their subscription paywall.
Frank: Interesting. When I click on the link I am able to access the entire article. I do not have a subscription, and in fact, am usually unable to access their articles.
>They don’t put everything behind their paywall, all the time, for all web-visitors.
They want you to buy the content but not all the content is pay-walled.
It was in the Midwest print edition Friday morning. I checked it (through the link above) last night to see if they had added any new information, and I had to log myself in to see it. (I do have a subscription to the WSJ but don’t often read it on-line.)
This morning, after seeing Frank & Mr. Z’s comments, I checked it again, not logged in, (and with my browser cache cleaned) and they are now showing the article in full.
(occasionally, you can end-run the paywall by doing a search from the home-page, but that is not guaranteed to work.)
Tangentially– this brings up an interesting Topic;
-Not everyone ‘sees’ the same Internet, as everyone else does, pay-walls or not. Depending on your ISP & whether you are logged in any social-sites, how you access certain sites, and if you are following search-links, what you see has been “delivered” (they say “customized”) to you.
I just tried it again and the full article comes up. I guess the lesson is keep trying.
I was able to read the whole article too. I used to use http://bugmenot.com/ for situations like this, but it’s not as useful as it used to be.