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Why do the workers wear Hazmat suits in the image? Maybe my interpretation is spoiled by all those sci-fi disaster movies and games and they are just wearing p
by chrisper 9y ago
Why do the workers wear Hazmat suits in the image?
Maybe my interpretation is spoiled by all those sci-fi disaster movies and games and they are just wearing protective suits in case of fire etc.
- JorgeGT 9y agoJust a shot in the dark, but hydrazine, a typical hypergolic propellant for spacecraft, is super toxic.
- Animats 9y agoToxic propellants. Nitrogen tetroxide / hydrazine. Both components are highly toxic. The big space shuttle used those for its maneuvering propulsion, and ground crews had to wear all the protective gear after landing until the propellant had been drained.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- azinman2 9y agoIs it all combusted perfectly, or do they lose some and just leave droplets of toxic liquid propellant in their paths as they fly?
- wolf550e 9y agoThe combustion byproducts are toxic and some uncombusted propellants are left in the pipes and can leak out. Has to be washed. The emergency APU on F-16 fighters uses hydrazine and if it was used and the jet landed on a civilian airport (e.g. engine failure) then you need to have it safely washed before anyone can approach the plane. https://youtu.be/Puia_yQxir8?t=178 https://youtu.be/Puia_yQxir8?t=178
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y agoYou hope it's all combusted perfectly, but there's no reason to take the risk based on a hope. And the combustion byproducts aren't that much less toxic than the fuel. Also not all of the fuel will be used, so there's some in the tanks. That needs to be removed, and could leak if there was any damage.
- justin66 9y agoThere was at least one mishap during Apollo capsule reentry where astronauts were exposed to fumes from hypergolic fuel, after forgetting to purge the thrusters at the proper time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%E2%80%93Soyuz_Test_Project#Re-entry_and_aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%E2%80%93Soyuz_Test_Proj... That brief exposure, before they got their oxygen masks on, put them in the hospital for a couple of weeks. It really could have been worse. I believe the technical procedure for unprotected ground crew dealing with a leak of this stuff is, roughly, "turn around and run for your life." Hence the guys in funny-looking suits.
- lanbanger 9y agoAlso the Titan II missile explosion at Damascus in 1980: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_explosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_ex...