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Expert: Virgin 'Ignored' Space Safety Warnings

posted by LaminatorX on Monday November 03 2014, @01:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the rocket-science dept.

AnonTechie writes:

A rocket science safety expert on Sunday said Virgin Galactic "ignored" safety warnings in the years leading up to the deadly crash of its spacecraft in California, as investigators hunted for clues to accident's cause.

Carolynne Campbell, a rocket propulsion expert with the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, said she could not speculate on the cause of Friday's crash without "all the data." However, she said multiple warnings had been issued to Virgin since 2007, when three engineers died testing a rocket on the ground.

http://news.yahoo.com/probe-virgin-spaceship-crash-may-085338983.html

 
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  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday November 03 2014, @09:07AM

    by isostatic (365) on Monday November 03 2014, @09:07AM (#112550) Journal

    Is there anything in this, or os it just a disgruntled blowhard? On the one hand you'd assume that pilots would refuse to fly something unsafe - they don't exactly live pay check to pay check and live in fear of being fired.

    On the other hand I've caught snippets from other sources that thereoght be truth to this, with engineers leaving en-mass.

    Don't tell me I have to go back to the other site :(

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Monday November 03 2014, @10:52AM

    by choose another one (515) on Monday November 03 2014, @10:52AM (#112566)

    No, it's BS from people who like to speculate about their pet "I don't want to speculate but I-told-you-so" issues in order to get into the media.

    I don't know whether the hybrid rocket engine they are using is less safe than other rocket engines or not, I do know that the phrase "it's not rocket science" is very non-specific about type of rocket, for a reason - all rockets are a lot more dangerous than just about any other form of transport.

    I do know that the speculation is BS because the NTSB have already announced that the rocket engine (and fuel tanks) did _not_ blow up, rather the feathered tails deployed prematurely and tore the vehicle apart. I personally didn't think it looked like a fuel / engine explosion from the pictures, but I kept my trap shut on that in public.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 03 2014, @04:06PM

      by khallow (3766) on Monday November 03 2014, @04:06PM (#112641) Journal
      Looking at this, the expert has some sort of business, perhaps a rocketry consulting business. This sort of "I-told-you-so" talk gives her a lot of visibility and may give her considerable business down the road. I wouldn't be surprised if she has issued these sorts of reports to everyone who has a remotely viable rocketry program and relatively predictable failure mode. Then it's just a matter of waiting for an accident to happen and rushing out the "I-told-you-so" announcement before the actual details of the accident are known.

      Scaled Composites may have acting on every one of her recommendations for all we know. It still doesn't prevent her from doing what she's doing.