SpaceX's test-firing of its Falcon 9 rocket engines appears to have been aborted as a result of some technical problem, observers say.The nine Merlin 1C engines clustered at the bottom of the rocket's first stage ignited at 1:41 p.m., but it did not appear the test-firing went the full 3.5 seconds as intended, observers say.
The water deluge system at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station started pouring water on the pad, the engines ignited in a fleeting flash of orange light, black smoke billowed up the side of the 180-foot vehicle but then the engines cutoff. Observers say it appeared as if flight computers detected some problem and automatically shut down the engines before the planned 3.5-second test was completed.
SpaceX officials were not immediately available for comment.
The test-firing is considered a major milestone to the inaugural launch of the Falcon 9, which now is scheduled for March 22.
The Falcon 9 first stage is equipped with nine Merlin 1C engines that were designed and developed by SpaceX.The engines use RP-1, a highly refined kerosene, and liquid oxygen as propellants. They are designed to be recovered from the ocean, refurbished and reused. Each of the engines produces 125,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.
53 comments:
what a joke...welcome to the future of the American Space program.
Not as big of a joke as the idiot that canceled the Shuttle program or the jackass he found to try to send us back to the moon. Considering all we elect are idiots, we need to get this in private hands if we are going to have a space program.
It was a countdown ABORT. The SpaceX folks are lucky their rocket is still in one piece and standing vertically.
Good thing we still have ARES to fall back on......the Constellation folks are still working on it, and are getting plenty of overtime.
THIS? THIS is Obama's plan???
There's no joke here. It's a new rocket and this "is" rocket science.
Anyone want to volunteer to ride that bird into orbit March 22nd?!
This is the best and closest option for the future. And it isn't ready yet. Why would you end shuttle without first making sure we have our own means to get to the ISS? This is bothersome. Thanks Senator Nelson for backing the President in his dismantling of the American space program.
It's a joke that people haven't learned from the history of the government's space program, which blew up a lot of rockets not to mention having its own shutdowns.
www.spaceksc.com
Keep up the good work guys, you may bring back the Delta II from the graveyard yet. Still don't know why they ever killed that one off.
This rocket is no different than any other new engineering feat. It is a TEST vehicle. However, did we not learn from our parents that you do not seel your car before you get a new one? Do we not teach our children to have a new job lined up before we leave our current job?
You people are so anti-American it makes me want to puke. This is ONE rocket program of several viable alternatives. This ONE system was on track before the cancellation of Ares/Constellation.
If you are really in the know, you would be aware that the Ares test was pretty much a failure - the rocket rammed the upper stage, which surely would have caused an abort. If seriously flamed the launch pad and the launch proved the design is too heavy...pretty much sums it up.
disgruntled nasa employees sabotaged it.
Does everyone here remember the Challenger accident?
Does everyone here remember the Columbia accident?
Do any of you remember the astonauts we lost?
Do you remember who was in charge of our country when he decided to shut the shuttle program down?
The fact is that the ARES 1-X was mostly successful and the technical problems with ARES 1 were being fixed one by one. Why not have a backup plan? Commercial is commercial anyway. We just now have lesser knowns taking the place of the better knowns (Lockheed, Boeing, Rocketdyne).
By the way, we blew up rockets with RP-1 back in the 60s.
Back in the 60's, it was new, no one had done it. SPACEX has access to all of that data, experience, lessons and hired technical expertise from Lockheed, Boeing, Rocketdyne. Still can't get it right the first time
I think the SpaceX guys can work through this. Have to stay tuned as to what happened. Only issue I have with Ares is it uses solid propellant. Once it's lit you can't turn it off.....
Space funding is a joke. The space program is still running on a budget from 1987. Less then 0.5% of fed taxes goes to the space program. If we wanted a world class space program, funding is the key. You could have it all. Shuttle to close the gap, Ares, and SpaceX if the money was there. We could have a real space port to put the other counties to shame and pleanty of jobs for everyone with benifits. Why don't you ask Obama, he will be here on April 15th.
Ares 1-X's main problem was the failure of one of the chutes. Launch and separation went as expected. And no, it did not hit the second stage upon separation. I love all the armchair quarterbacks. Speak with authority though they don't know what the hell they're talking about.
You idiots that failed to plan for your futures need to stop the whining.7 years ago you were told shuttle was going away.
Your fault. Go Away.
ARES is a failure too.A 1X test that would have killed a crew(despite FLT's unwillingness to pursue story- the second stage was impacted by first stage after sep.this was NOT supposed to happen. period. ) A second stage motor that is 2 years behind on development and over 30,000lbs under design spec on thrust.
Lets see, how many dozens of rockets and not forget the shuttle spread all over the cape and adjacent waters.
SpaceX will get it right, eventually and our space program will be better for it. Remember 5 years ago this rich guy sketched out a rocket on a restaurant napkin, and now on his own dime he has 2 payloads in orbit. Sure he's had problems. But he's on the verge of a great thing..... Must be really embarrassing to the 10k shuttle workers who cant seem to get their work done without alot of overtime.
In a word...BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Honest question here.... how can SpaceX do it any cheaper than Delta 2, Delta 4, Atlas 5, etc? Is it less manpower, simpler design, what is it?
Michael 3:44pm.
Mostly Successful?
WTF????
Ares 1X cost 13 times what SpaceX has spent on it's ground-up development, using components that have flown HUNDREDS of times.
By your logic Columbia was ok because they MOSTLY made it back home. I pray to every god that a man has ever prayed to that you don't work for NASA.
You also fail to point out this is the First NEW rocket engine in almost 20 years. Delta IV uses a modified SSME and the Atlas V uses a russian motor.
The guy(Munsk) is a genius. From a rough sketch on a napkin in a bar to a working, successful launcher in under 5 years with less than 500 employees. Shuttle uses 10 times that, just locally, at 20 times the cost.
Thats beautiful the future of our space program in a nutshell. Our glorious President was on a video hookup when the shuttle landed and was heard saying how he did nt care about the shuttle it s almost over blah blah and then realized he was being heard and went into B.S. mode alot of pilots and Astronauts heard him and got real angry . THATS OUR HOPE AND CHANGE OTP
Answer to 4:23.
1>Massive unionized government workforce vs a small group of highly skilled professionals who are only hired to fill positions based solely on NEED.
2>No Shareholders to worry about satisfying.
Attn 4:23. The answer is simple.
A few hundred of the best and brightest engineers and technicians money can buy or 10,000 SCOUNS.
A Few Hundred Highly motivated professionals doing their best every day or 10,000 people struggling to justify keeping that space shuttle job their cousin's brother's father got them.
In 1997 the USAF and GAO did a study showing that the entire shuttle program could be operated at the 6-flights a year level with just under 2000 USAF personnel. You know the kind of workers that show up on time and finish the tasks assigned. The kind of people who are disciplined and capable of completing procedures o the letter.
Instead we have 15,000 who can't keep track of where they leave their crack baggies. People who hate their jobs so much they regularly drive off base at 80-90 mph, an hour before their shifts are supposed to end to get to the bars of N. MI and Titusville.
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
You also fail to point out this is the First NEW rocket engine in almost 20 years. Delta IV uses a modified SSME and the Atlas V uses a russian motor.
The guy(Munsk) is a genius. From a rough sketch on a napkin in a bar to a working, successful launcher in under 5 years with less than 500 employees. Shuttle uses 10 times that, just locally, at 20 times the cost."
You are confused. Delta IV uses a clean sheet engine design, no SSME heritage at all. Nothing new about the Falcon 9 Merlin engine, a low performing (ISP) lox-kerosene gas generator engine. The Russian engine you reference operates oxidizer rich, which is cutting edge tech. Oh, and his name his Musk.
SpaceX developed from scratch 2 new engines, 2 new boosters and a new capsule with $200 million and 5 years.
NASA blew $9 BILLION, budgeted 30 BILLION more, over 10 years to do the same thing, yet was over budget and under performance, and headed nowhere.
Government sucks, even NASA, a bloated, bueacratic big Fed govt agency, failing like Dept of Energy, Dept of Education, Amtrak, FEMA, etc etc.
Govt doesn't work.
Give innovative private enterprise a chance; and remember that NO ONE CURRENTLY WORKING AT NASA HAS EVER CREATED A BOOSTER...
NASA spent 35 years, post Apollo, and $500 Billion on manned space and hasn't gotten an American more than 250 miles from earth.
Anonymous 4:31 "Shuttle uses 10 times that, just locally, at 20 times the cost." - The Shuttle can launch ten times as much weight making it cost effective. You would have to launch SpaceX ten times for one Shuttle Launch. It still costs less per lb then what the Russians will be charging and would keep Americans employed. There will be no telling what they will charge in 2012 when the contract with the USA is over or even if they would take us to the space station that we mostly paid for in US dollers. You guys are still doing a good job. I wish there was enough funding to get our Space Port really rocking with many different ships instead of doing everything on a shoe string, no cost of living increase, 20 year old space program budget. Doing things on a shoe string should only be for the movies.
What about Saturn V.....It worked several times. Why not make it lighter and stronger by rebuilding it with modern materials, put more powerful modern power plants in the tail end? You could probably get at least a 20% increase in capability over Apollo without too much work....
But then there would be no room left for the Bureaucracy.
Answer to Anomyous 4:15
Actually we stayed because we had contracts to fulfill which we did. We didn't bail as is sounds like you would have. We also stayed because we know we'll have work in the future, and based on what I saw today, we made the right decision. My fault? I had nothing to do with Obama plans. Sounds like his decisions are all political (such as SpaceX's CEO donating a lot of money to his campaign therefore lets throw a bunch of money their way and try to cancel a program that actually works and has had a successful test flignt), we've been in this business a long time and we'll ride out Obama. As far as going away... Ares has bi-partisan support in congress because it works. They also know what a mistake it would be to turn or space program over to rocket hobbiests.....
Capt Usa- I was not comparing lift capacities, only pointing to the waste. For what we need now, -access for crew and cargo to international space station. Falcon is the only currently viable and fiscally responsible option on the table.
Shuttle is the most capable spacecraft ever to fly. Period.
But, the companies that run the program(via their Lobbyists) decided the best solution after Columbia was to scrap the safest(and most costly) part of the system for the most profitable. Challenger was a Booster and Tank failure that Caused loss of Crew. Columbia was a Tank and management failure that cost lives of crew. So instead of INVESTING in improving tank and booters, we were told it was best to use the failed, but profitable parts of the system on the next launcher.
Answer to Anomyous 5:11.
Dont forget to add in the $$$$$$ SpaceX's CEO spent on the Obama campaing, which of course had nothing to do with his attempt to cancel Ares.
4:54
Hmmm.... where to start....
I didn't say the RD-180 was a bad design, only that it's heritage is russian.
The RS-68 was designed from the SSME. The engine was scaled down and most redundant parts and safety features required for the engine to be man-rated were removed. BUT THE BASICS of the design are in fact the same. The plumbing is very similar, the pumps are set and attached in the same way.
Answer to 5:11.
Right...so when do they fix those engines so they actually fire? Get something working then we'll listen cause it looks like then only thing you've developed so far is a lot of hot air.
Delta 4 does NOT use a modified SSME. No brains - No Pain!
Answer to Anomyous 4:23.
Excuse me, but has the Falcon 9 ever flown? Because all the numbers in the world mean nothing until it does.
5:37 you're a moron. Musk is a foreign national.
The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States.
Face it. ARES was a bad joke from the outset, the pet project of the leader of NASA at the time it was adopted.
Anonymous 5:35 - Don't forgot logistics. They need food and supplies. The Shuttle can send up a crew of seven and cargo capablity of a large Mac truck. It would take many Space X ships to do the same. There should be better funding to keep all these ideas open. The Shuttle can service the Space Station if something goes wrong with it. The only other option will be to ditch the ISS into the ocean. :(
4:15 is either blind or unwilling to admit the truth.
Anyone within 40 miles with a decent pair of binoculars could clearly see the first stage impact the second after sep. Anyone who saw the first stage after recovery could see the minor buckling on the frustrum. Anyone with a computer can see that every graphic and video NASA created along with ALL preflight statements from NASA brass and engineers stated clearly the second stage was expected to remain stable for a good while after seperation. And Still, NASA has not released images or video from the 2 forward looking cameras mounted to the first stage. It was only after the second stage fell 18 miles short of the impact zone that this 'it was expected' BS came up.
Space X flight record: Falcon 1, 3 failures in 5 launch attempts with ONE Merlin engine. Wow, some record. Now they feel as though they've graduated to the point they can get NINE of the same engines to work simultaneously. About the comment of not being able to shut off solids, who would want to after liftoff? It's not like you can "glide" back to earth! And for those saying 1X was a "failure", you're clueless. The "second stage" was a chunk of steel. The test was of the first stage, and it performed as designed. The fact all the chutes didn't deploy would have zero effect on astronaut safety. Get a clue.
TheAntiCrist said:
Go Space X!
This bird will fly just fine.
My Sister was bit by a Moose once....
I loved the line,"15,000 who can't keep track of where they leave their crack baggies. People who hate their jobs so much they regularly drive off base at 80-90 mph, an hour before their shifts are supposed to end to get to the bars of N. MI and Titusville." That is a classic.
Both the Challenger and Columbia accidents were caused by extremely terrible management that decided "Well, since we survived Russian Roulette so many times before, there's nothing wrong with trying again!"
Both accidents could have been prevented with proper engineering modifications... As such, the space shuttle program could continue with improved attention to safety and the new safety modifications that were put in place.
As for this abort, at least the rocket is in one piece. In the early space program, many many rockets blew. With all the knowledge we have now of rocket designs (From all these years of research and development), even experimental rockets should have less failures, although that doesn't mean they won't still happen. All the knowledge from past experience is probably the reason why this was aborted and didn't result in a more critical failure.
Folks I have been reading these posts for weeks now and I have to tell you this is all very depressing. Watching the animosity being tossed around at each other ... it just doesn't make sense. The bottom line is this ... Bush/Obama it doesn't matter who canceled what. The fact is people outside of of a few localized regions in FL, TX, AL etc no one in this country knows about the manned space program let alone cares about it. I travel all over the country for work and when speaking with people in other parts of the country they are like "The shuttle isn't flying anymore after this year?" and have never heard of a program called constellation. The program is being canceled because voters who elect these people don't care about space. If you really think about it do you blame them. With all of stuff that people are facing ... loosing their home, loosing their job etc. do you think the american people outside of Brevard county want to see the govt spend 30 billion a year on something they see as a "nice to have".
Space-X's astronaut training program is currently underway at Gitmo...that should solve three problems simultaneously!
I've got cables...do you need your rocket jumped?.....or would you rather roll start it??
Anonymous at 5:27 PM said...
"What about Saturn V.....It worked several times. Why not make it lighter and stronger by rebuilding it with modern materials, put more powerful modern power plants in the tail end? You could probably get at least a 20% increase in capability over Apollo without too much work....
But then there would be no room left for the Bureaucracy."
--------------------
That would really be nice. One problem: some geniuses destroyed every known copy of the Saturn's plans. Anybody got a copy stashed away in their attic? SpaceX would probably make you a millionaire for it... c'mon, I know somebody's still got a copy...
--Joseph
And the Pres. wants to leave manned space flight to private enterprise?
Space-X's astronaut training program is currently underway at Gitmo...that should solve three problems simultaneously!
Now that is funny !
SpaceX will do it, watch and see
Yes, the Shuttle is a magnificent design - any problem shortly after launch and you can simply fly it away, no need for an escape rocket above it to lift it away from a blowing up lower stage. Perfectly safe design.
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