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ISS Resupply Rocket Explodes Shortly after Launch

posted by n1 on Wednesday October 29 2014, @11:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the very-expensive-fireworks dept.

Sir Finkus writes:

A supply rocket carrying cargo and experiments to the ISS exploded shortly after liftoff. NASA and Orbital Sciences (the company operating the rocket) have not released any information about what may have caused the incident, pending further investigation.

The mission was unmanned, and all personnel are safe and accounted for. The extent of the damage to the launch facility has not yet been determined.

Phil Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy blog speculates that the 60s-70s era refurbished Russian engines the vehicle used will come under heavy scrutiny.

 
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Kymation on Wednesday October 29 2014, @05:17PM

    by Kymation (1047) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 29 2014, @05:17PM (#111266)

    Machining technology has gone thru a bit of a revolution. I would imagine some poor SOB made each turbopump impeller by hand on a manual milling machine in the 60s. Now you just download gcode from the CAM program and the machining center roars for a couple hours and assuming no misteaks, magically a pump impeller appears.

    When I started on a new job back in 1975, I was shown the company's first CNC machine. It was being sold as scrap. The controlling "computer" was two racks full of relays and delay lines.

    They had a whole row of newer CNC machines, most of them with DEC PDP controllers. Other than the electronics, they were pretty much indistinguishable from modern machines.

    Oh, and turbopump impellers were not made by hand. Each impeller blade was individually manufactured and tested, then the pump assembled and tested. Three-quarters of the impeller blades failed the test. The margin of safety was zero. It took us forever to build a turbopump that didn't blow up during testing.

    I should probably have mentioned that my new job was at Rocketdyne, where they were building the SSME. Or trying to; as I mentioned, they blew up a lot. I am still amazed that we didn't blow up any engines in a live shuttle launch.

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