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> "The most likely root cause for the booster RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) was determined to be filter blockage where liquid oxygen is supplied to the en
by tromp 3y ago
> "The most likely root cause for the booster RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) was determined to be filter blockage where liquid oxygen is supplied to the engines, leading to a loss of inlet pressure in engine oxidizer turbopumps that eventually resulted in one engine failing in a way that resulted in loss of the vehicle," the company stated. "SpaceX has since implemented hardware changes inside future booster oxidizer tanks to improve propellant filtration capabilities and refined operations to increase reliability."
- rbanffy 3y agoI wonder the kind of sensor package they fly to be able to get to this conclusion. I have a real passion for monitoring things (for me, mostly web apps and data/message flows) and this is a really interesting case.
- hef19898 3y agoSeems to be as simple as a bunch of pressure sensors, in this case.
- rbanffy 3y agoTrue, but add telemetry, and all other sensors who have shown nominal performance throughout the flight and that gave them the information they needed with the time resolution required to see an highly energetic cascading failure from one engine to the others. It's a very interesting space (no pun intended).
- mrgaro 3y agoSpaceX is at least known to have some kind of high resolution/precision microphones around the structure recording constantly so that they are able to do 3D triangulation inside the vehicle.
- Sebb767 3y agoWhy do those rockets have a fuel filter at all? I get why we have them in cars; we refuel quite often, in dirty environments and with possibly low quality fuel. For space rockets, it seems that it would be (comparatively) easy to ensure that the tanks are clean and the fuel is of high quality. On the other hand, if there wasn't any dirt, the filters would not have clogged, so I guess it does make sense after all.
- guhidalg 3y agoDon’t forget about all the equipment needed to fill the tanks and transport the fuel to the tanks. Probably easier to assume contamination gets introduced somewhere and just slap an in-line filter.
- foxyv 3y agoImagine if the engine failed from FOD. The reaction would be "Why don't they use filters on their fuel pumps?" Whenever you make an engineering decision there are trade offs like this.
- Tuna-Fish 3y agoMost rockets don't have fuel filters, but this requires their tanks to be kept in a much more strict state of cleanliness, and any failure to do so would result in mission failures. SpaceX has long had a very different idea about FOD than most other rocket companies, famously Merlin engine qualification testing contains ingesting stainless steel nuts.
- cduzz 3y agoThat's bonkers. What size nuts do they pass through their engine? Every engine before it goes to space has to have a nut passed through the system? Like a 12mm "go into space" grade nut or a little itty bitty nut like I might find holding down a heat sink assembly in a 1998 vintage motherboard? I'm off to the googles to find videos...
- 3y ago
- fasteddie31003 3y agoHere is a theory https://youtu.be/ZIisBG3NV8Y?t=4445 https://youtu.be/ZIisBG3NV8Y?t=4445 that there was a methane leak which could have caused solid methane which could block filters.
- cubefox 3y agoHe abandones that theory in the pinned comment.
- bilsbie 3y agoI heard there can be issues with ice.
- cubefox 3y agoQuestion is: What blocked the filter? They probably have some idea, since they sound confident they know what needs to be changed.