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Watching the replay, it looks like some of the engines failed to light during boostback reignition. Then, either total flameout occurred, or AFTS started cuttin
by kortex 3y ago
Watching the replay, it looks like some of the engines failed to light during boostback reignition. Then, either total flameout occurred, or AFTS started cutting fuel in preparation for termination (maybe there are settings for "terminate right tf now" and "try to shut down engines before popping off", idk just speculating).
Either way, it looks like the start of boostback was not quite norminal, and AFTS decided that wasn't close enough to the flight envelope and decided to exit status 1.
Some are speculating that the flip maneuver sloshed the fuel too much and resulted in vapor ingestion and/or complete fuel starvation. The fact the failures are clustered on the side the fuel would slosh away from adds weight to this idea.
https://youtu.be/081a5Thjl5g?si=JUT3P6EcnG51hmHI https://youtu.be/081a5Thjl5g?si=JUT3P6EcnG51hmHI
- pantalaimon 3y agoAll but one engine successfully relit (the outer engine ring has no re-light capability) but they started to fail quickly afterwards. Scott Manley also has the theory that the maneuver caused a sloshing motion of the fuel and the water hammer ruptured piping on the engines, causing a cascading failure. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7LYw6gU65ac https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7LYw6gU65ac
- lisper 3y agoI love how at the end of the video the SpaceX announcer refers to what just happened as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly of the booster".
- bronson 3y agoThat's an industry term. Lithobraking is too.
- lisper 3y agoOh, I know. I used to work at NASA. But I still think it's a delightful euphemism. (And yes, I'm being ironic.)
- sverhagen 3y agoIs it a humoristic (sarcastic) style form, or just a very neutral, matter of fact, professional assessment? I can't tell, in part, I guess, due to esl.
- hoseja 3y agoIt's in a similar category to FUBAR.
- lisper 3y agoIt's not clear either way. But as a neutral, matter-of-fact, professional assessment it sounds really weird because "disassembly" generally implies an orderly process, and this was not that.
- philistine 3y agoThe process is orderly. They tested and designed the explosion very specifically.
- lisper 3y agoThat's not what I meant. Disassembly generally implies a resulting state that makes reassembly possible. This was not that.
- Torkel 3y agoRUDimentary jargon