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Falcon 9 Experienced Engine Anomaly But Kept Going to Orbit
During last night’s launch of the Dragon capsule by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, there was an anomaly on one of the rocket’s nine engines and it was shut down. But Dragon still made it to orbit – just a little bit later than originally expected. At about 1:20 into the flight, there was a bright flash and a shower of debris. SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk issued a statement about the anomaly saying:
“Falcon 9 detected an anomaly on one of the nine engines and shut it down. As designed, the flight computer then recomputed a new ascent profile in realtime to reach the target orbit, which is why the burn times were a bit longer. Like Saturn V, which experienced engine loss on two flights, the Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine flameout and still complete its mission. I believe F9 is the only rocket flying today that, like a modern airliner, is capable of completing a flight successfully even after losing an engine. There was no effect on Dragon or the Space Station resupply mission.”
UPDATE (2 pm EDT 8/10): SpaceX has now provided an update and more information: the engine didn’t explode, but (now updated from a previous update), “panels designed to relieve pressure within the engine bay were ejected to protect the stage and other engines.” Here’s their statement:
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Read the rest of Falcon 9 Experienced Engine Anomaly But Kept Going to Orbit (635 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 11 comments |
Post tags: Commercial Space, International Space Station (ISS), Space Station, SpaceX
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2012-10-08 22:44:41
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/97753/falcon-9-experienced-engine-anamoly-but-kept-going-to-orbit/
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