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takyon writes:

One of SpaceX's new "Block 5" Merlin rocket engines has failed during a test:

On Sunday, one of SpaceX's rocket engines exploded during a test at the company's facility in McGregor, Texas — and now it's investigating what happened, The Washington Post reported [archive]. The mishap occurred during a "qualification test" of a Merlin engine meant to be used during a Falcon 9 launch in late 2018. SpaceX says that no one was injured during the event and that it shouldn't affect the company's launches moving forward.

"We are now conducting a thorough and fully transparent investigation of the root cause," SpaceX spokesperson John Taylor said in a statement to The Verge. "SpaceX is committed to our current manifest and we do not expect this to have any impact on our launch cadence."

[...] However, the explosion isn't expected to have too much of an impact, since the Merlin engine being tested was for the upcoming Block 5 configuration of the Falcon 9. The Block 5 is the final upgrade to the rocket that SpaceX has been developing this last year, which will supposedly have even higher thrust and improved landing abilities. Until that upgrade is finalized, though, SpaceX has been flying a transitional version of the Falcon 9 known as the Block 4.

Now, SpaceX plans to suspend all Block 5 engine testing at McGregor until the accident investigation is included[sic], though Block 4 engine testing will proceed. The company will also start repairing the test bay the engine exploded on, which should take two to four weeks to complete. SpaceX expects repairs to be done before the investigation is over, but just in case, the company has an additional test bay at McGregor it can use. However, that second test bay sustained some minor damage in the explosion, too, but repairs should only take two to three days before testing can resume.

Falcon 9 had already been upgraded to be able to fly some payloads that were originally intended to fly on Falcon Heavy. Each Block 5 first stage is intended to be flown ten times with only inspections in between, or up to 100 times with refurbishment. The Falcon 9 Full Thrust first stage has a thrust of 7,607 kN at sea level and 8,227 kN in vacuum, while the Block 5 first stage can reach a thrust of 8,451 kN (sea level/vacuum not specified).

Also at: Spaceflight Insider and Space.com.

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