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Earlier this week when they were de-fueling they mentioned that the "escape system" was still active during that process. Is that because the fuel is potentiall
by elliekelly 6y ago
Earlier this week when they were de-fueling they mentioned that the "escape system" was still active during that process. Is that because the fuel is potentially dangerous? Tangentially related, can the "escape system" be activated even when the rocket itself hasn't left the ground? I watched the escape system test but IIRC it involved launching and then aborting so the pod that carries the crew was already high off the ground before the escape system was triggered. It surprised me that it could triggered from a standstill.
- phkahler 6y agoA couple years ago they did a pad abort test. Not from a rocket, but from the ground. It got out to sea just fine.
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoAnything involving fuel is dangerous. Demo-2 is first time that humans are on the rocket while its being fueled. The escape system is on while fueling and defueling since those are high risk times for the rocket.
- eecc 6y agoEven when boarding commercial flights, crew tells you not to fasten seat belts if they’re still refueling. Just in case you need to evacuate (of course it’s just a token concern, I would t expect to survive an airplane bursting in flames even if still docked.)
- dnautics 6y agopeople have survived even crazier situations, like an airplane cartwheeling down a runway AND THEN bursting into flames. (100+ survivors, out of ~300 IIRC)
- chipsa 6y agoThe abort system is like ejection seats: the greater the part of the flight envelope it works in, the better, because you have smaller portions of the flight that problems are unsurvivable. The abort system tests were for the most difficult regimes of flight: maximum dynamic pressure, and zero altitude, zero airspeed. Having tested that, they can be sure it'll work in less difficult sections.