One engine of the Falcon 9 failed during launch.
Confirmed: One engine of the Falcon 9 exploded during launch.
Video at the link. The other 8 engines picked up the slack — as designed — and got Dragon into orbit.
This spectacular engine failure will of course have to be reviewed. However, if I were a commercial satellite company looking for a rocket to get my satellites into orbit, this failure would be recommendation, not a deterrent. The Falcon 9 demonstrated that even if one engine fails (and this one did by blowing up!), the rocket can survive the failure and make it to orbit. If that isn’t clear proof that this is a well designed and well built rocket, nothing is.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Confirmed: One engine of the Falcon 9 exploded during launch.
Video at the link. The other 8 engines picked up the slack — as designed — and got Dragon into orbit.
This spectacular engine failure will of course have to be reviewed. However, if I were a commercial satellite company looking for a rocket to get my satellites into orbit, this failure would be recommendation, not a deterrent. The Falcon 9 demonstrated that even if one engine fails (and this one did by blowing up!), the rocket can survive the failure and make it to orbit. If that isn’t clear proof that this is a well designed and well built rocket, nothing is.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
And if an airliner you were riding on had an engine blow up and fall off the plane, but the pilot/flight control system managed to get the plane to the ground in spite of that; you would prefer to ride that plane again rather than a different plane with a different engine?
Space X has a serious problem here. Until the cause of the explosion is determined it is impossible to know how hard/easy it will be to fix.
It didn’t explode
“We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it.”
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/10/08/spacex-protective-faring-reptured-after-engine-shutdown/
If you watch the slow motion video there is a large flare (something blowing up) followed by large chunks of something falling off the rocket.
It would be better if we all just waited for what (hopefully) will be a detailed independent investigation of the incident, run by (again hopefully) the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Range Safety Office.
Well, let’s hope the folks at SpaceX fix the problem – I’m sure they’re not happy about it, but the fact the mission came off successfully has to be considered evidence of robust design & redundancy. Obviously it becomes a major concern when considering future MANNED missions. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but somehow, I think they’ll find & correct the source of the problem…
The analogy doesn’t quite hold up. Engine and airframe are separate entities. Most airframes can be fitted with several different engines. If I were on the example airliner, I would (after a visit to the airport bar) have no problem boarding the aircraft again, provided I was informed that the cause for failure wasn’t inherent in that model engine (i.e. design flaw).
From an engineering standpoint, the fact that the system was able to achieve a useful orbit despite major system failure speaks to the robustness of the design. I’m sure that Space X would prefer not to have any failures, but I’d also bet that morale is pretty high around Space X Central.
“From an engineering standpoint, the fact that the system was able to achieve a useful orbit despite major system failure speaks to the robustness of the design.”
Or to incredibly good luck. That is what an investigation (if one occurs) will determine.