6 ms·

Space rocket crashes in flames after accidental launch

29 points by avivallssa 2y ago

macmac 2y ago
"accidental launch" - I am no rocket scientist, but that sounds bad.
- mr_toad 2y ago
  I was curious how often this happens. I couldn’t find many examples, and they’re all military: In 2022 India accidentally fired a missile at Pakistan: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indias-inadvertent-missile-launch-underscores-the-risk-of-accidental-nuclear-warfare/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indias-inadverten... In 1970 the USAF accidentally launched a missile carrying nuclear material, and it landed in Mexico: https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched-rocket-into-mexicos-mapimi-desert-45-years-ago/ https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched... I’m 1967 the accidental launch of a rocket on board the USS Forrestal killed 134 people and nearly destroyed the ship: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-forrestal-accidental-rocket-launch-nearly-destroyed-navy-aircraft-carrier-208625 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-forrestal-acciden...
  - serf 2y ago
    I think 'accidental launch during a static fire test' deserves a distinction; the ignition wasn't accidental, the restraint failure was.
    - mr_toad 2y ago
      My brief searching couldn’t find any previous examples of a rocket escaping during a static fire test, or even of an orbital class rocket being launched accidentally, so this may be unique.
ethbr1 2y ago
Less "accidental launch" and more "failure of the bits that were securing the rocket for a static test."
- anamexis 2y ago
  What’s the distinction?
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    What broke.
- MyelinatedT 2y ago
  There is some indication that the failure point was in the rocket’s structure itself. So, the bits doing the securing may have worked fine, but the rocket just ripped itself off the pad and left the bolted-down bits behind. Either way, a very embarrassing engineering and operational failure.
mianos 2y ago
Hold down bolts from Temu that were pot metal plated plastic? :)
- mianos 2y ago
  For those downvoting me for humour (no one one hurt), the explanation was, due to the rush it had no tie downs or top weights like a normal SpaceX engine test. The only thing holding it down was scaffolding. If you look at the photos of the site, you can see it's just a weight bearing scaffold and not a engine load bearing structural brace. This is very hard to believe.
thot_experiment 2y ago
Static test became a dynamic test. Bad look for sure, flight was most definitely not terminated intentionally and the rocket, still full of fuel, crashed back down to earth after multiple engine failures and exploded. This happened in a relatively populated area and there the resulting overpressure definitely at least broke some windows in a relatively dense metro.
- mr_toad 2y ago
  It’s not clear if Chinese rockets even have flight termination systems. Russian rockets don’t.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    It's fine. The Chinese launch from the west of the country, so it'd never fall on anythi... oh.
gbraad 2y ago
You left the most important part out of the title.
nodesocket 2y ago
Why didn’t you add “Chinese” space rocket?
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40837229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40837229

29 points by avivallssa 2y ago

macmac 2y ago

"accidental launch" - I am no rocket scientist, but that sounds bad.

mr_toad 2y ago
I was curious how often this happens. I couldn’t find many examples, and they’re all military: In 2022 India accidentally fired a missile at Pakistan: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indias-inadvertent-missile-launch-underscores-the-risk-of-accidental-nuclear-warfare/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indias-inadverten... In 1970 the USAF accidentally launched a missile carrying nuclear material, and it landed in Mexico: https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched-rocket-into-mexicos-mapimi-desert-45-years-ago/ https://unredacted.com/2015/07/13/usaf-accidentally-launched... I’m 1967 the accidental launch of a rocket on board the USS Forrestal killed 134 people and nearly destroyed the ship: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-forrestal-accidental-rocket-launch-nearly-destroyed-navy-aircraft-carrier-208625 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-forrestal-acciden...
- serf 2y ago
  I think 'accidental launch during a static fire test' deserves a distinction; the ignition wasn't accidental, the restraint failure was.
  - mr_toad 2y ago
    My brief searching couldn’t find any previous examples of a rocket escaping during a static fire test, or even of an orbital class rocket being launched accidentally, so this may be unique.

ethbr1 2y ago

Less "accidental launch" and more "failure of the bits that were securing the rocket for a static test."

anamexis 2y ago
What’s the distinction?
- ethbr1 2y ago
  What broke.
MyelinatedT 2y ago
There is some indication that the failure point was in the rocket’s structure itself. So, the bits doing the securing may have worked fine, but the rocket just ripped itself off the pad and left the bolted-down bits behind. Either way, a very embarrassing engineering and operational failure.

mianos 2y ago

Hold down bolts from Temu that were pot metal plated plastic? :)

mianos 2y ago
For those downvoting me for humour (no one one hurt), the explanation was, due to the rush it had no tie downs or top weights like a normal SpaceX engine test. The only thing holding it down was scaffolding. If you look at the photos of the site, you can see it's just a weight bearing scaffold and not a engine load bearing structural brace. This is very hard to believe.

thot_experiment 2y ago

Static test became a dynamic test. Bad look for sure, flight was most definitely not terminated intentionally and the rocket, still full of fuel, crashed back down to earth after multiple engine failures and exploded. This happened in a relatively populated area and there the resulting overpressure definitely at least broke some windows in a relatively dense metro.

mr_toad 2y ago
It’s not clear if Chinese rockets even have flight termination systems. Russian rockets don’t.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  It's fine. The Chinese launch from the west of the country, so it'd never fall on anythi... oh.

gbraad 2y ago

You left the most important part out of the title.

nodesocket 2y ago

Why didn’t you add “Chinese” space rocket?

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40837229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40837229