Damage to the pad and surrounding facilities as seen from the local news chopper: http://wavy.com/2014/10/29/raw-video-chopper-10-flies-over-nasa-rocket-launch-debris/ / http://interactives.wavy.com/photomojo/gallery/14913/277009/wavy-chopper-10-flies-over-rocket-debris/wallops-island-va/
It hurts just to think that somewhere in that mess is Cygnus.
Damage to the pad and surrounding facilities as seen from the local news chopper: http://wavy.com/2014/10/29/raw-video-chopper-10-flies-over-nasa-rocket-launch-debris/ / http://interactives.wavy.com/photomojo/gallery/14913/277009/wavy-chopper-10-flies-over-rocket-debris/wallops-island-va/
Sorry to hear about the @OrbitalSciences launch. Hope they recover soon.
Well, sure. He'll apologize all the way to the bank.Oh, and apparently Musk has his sympathies. Didn't expect that, considering they're competitors in CRS.
Saw the pictures, not the video. While there's a lot of property and vehicle damage, the actual Wallops facility is only minimally damaged (quoting this from somewhere).
It seems to me the only real damage is to two unfortunate lightning towers and those can be replaced relatively easily. I think they could fly next year. Hopefully, not in exactly a year.
Well, sure. He'll apologize all the way to the bank.
Totally unfair to say.:nono:
Totally unfair to say.:nono:
I think there's a root cause there. It lends support towards the engine's oxygen turbopump possibly failing.
I actually made a bet with a couple of friends for that to be the cause of the mishap. We'll see if I earn some free food or not.
The exhaust got brighter just before the "BUM", right?
Chemistry isn't my strong suite but, wouldn't a move to a fuel rich burn cause the exhaust to get darker (and colder)? And a oxidizer rich burn make it brighter and hotter, thus causing engine parts to melt?
My guess would be some issue causing the fuel pressure to drop, temps go up, exhaust brightens and kaput. A pressure drop on the oxidizer side would cause the engine to loose thrust, very likely without exploding. Catastrophic turbopump failure... doesn't seem like it, because that (initial) explosion was a bit too much when compared to the SeaLaunch failure a few years ago, when the turbopump blew just after ignition (yes, different engines). But, I have little knowledge of the NK-33, so I won't put any money behind these words.
If you are operating such engines at optimal conditions, you are only slightly fuel-rich normally (for film cooling). any shift in mixture ratio in both directions would thus reduce the temperatures.
Also, a bit too much for a turbopump explosion is not true - such a pump has a shaft power of dozens of Megawatts (Pumping multiple tons of oxidizer and fuel to injection pressure of about 20 MPa is not an easy task)
Especially dangerous are turbine seals, they are a common weakness since you often have LOX and fuel right next to each other, only separated by a bubble of Helium. If the seal fails, the temperatures there raise until it fails completely and hot LOX and fuel are combusting faster inside the pump than the resulting exhaust gases can escape. Usually, this happens in milliseconds.
With the added crater. But all the holding tanks and piping, looks like it survived.