Updates Orbital Sciences' Cygnus CRS Flight 1 through Flight 8 updates.

[N_Molson]

The water tower survived... :hmm:

 

[Kyle]

Damage to the pad and surrounding facilities as seen from the local news chopper: http://wavy.com/2014/10/29/raw-video-chopper-10-flies-over-nasa-rocket-launch-debris/ / http://interactives.wavy.com/photomojo/gallery/14913/277009/wavy-chopper-10-flies-over-rocket-debris/wallops-island-va/

It hurts just to think that somewhere in that mess is Cygnus.

 

[Donamy]

Looks like a bomb hit ... oh wait.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

It hurts just to think that somewhere in that mess is Cygnus.

No, What's left of Cygnus will be almost unrecognizable without close inspection. The biggest pieces I saw in that video from this morning were at most about 1.5m long.

 

[ISProgram]

Damage to the pad and surrounding facilities as seen from the local news chopper: http://wavy.com/2014/10/29/raw-video-chopper-10-flies-over-nasa-rocket-launch-debris/ / http://interactives.wavy.com/photomojo/gallery/14913/277009/wavy-chopper-10-flies-over-rocket-debris/wallops-island-va/

Saw the pictures, not the video. While there's a lot of property and vehicle damage, the actual Wallops facility is only minimally damaged (quoting this from somewhere).

It seems to me the only real damage is to two unfortunate lightning towers and those can be replaced relatively easily. I think they could fly next year. Hopefully, not in exactly a year.

Good luck, Orbital!

Oh, and apparently Musk has his sympathies. Didn't expect that, considering they're competitors in CRS.

Sorry to hear about the @OrbitalSciences launch. Hope they recover soon.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Oh, and apparently Musk has his sympathies. Didn't expect that, considering they're competitors in CRS.

Well, sure. He'll apologize all the way to the bank.

Saw the pictures, not the video. While there's a lot of property and vehicle damage, the actual Wallops facility is only minimally damaged (quoting this from somewhere).

It seems to me the only real damage is to two unfortunate lightning towers and those can be replaced relatively easily. I think they could fly next year. Hopefully, not in exactly a year.

Looks like some moderate damage to the support facilities too. Nothing on fire or burned down, though, so that's a start.

 

[Donamy]

Well, sure. He'll apologize all the way to the bank.

Totally unfair to say.:nono:

 

[dnt462]

Totally unfair to say.:nono:

I have to agree, I think he wants competition in the CSF sector.

 

[ISProgram]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HaD5zZjeE#t=829"]NASA Holds News Conference Following Orbital Launch Mishap - YouTube[/ame]

 

[boogabooga]

Totally unfair to say.:nono:

Whatever is bad for your customer is bad for you.

 

[Fabri91]

I think there's a root cause there. It lends support towards the engine's oxygen turbopump possibly failing.

I actually made a bet with a couple of friends for that to be the cause of the mishap. We'll see if I earn some free food or not.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I actually made a bet with a couple of friends for that to be the cause of the mishap. We'll see if I earn some free food or not.

Yeah, the O2 turbopump would be my bet too. It appeared to my eye that the 'explosion' was in a lateral plane as if the impeller flew apart, and then the flame got fuel rich.

Hopefully they have enough wreckage to identify a root cause. Had this happened a few seconds later the bulk of the debris would have fallen offshore which would have complicated the investigation significantly, even if the water wasn't very deep. As it is they will have to comb the launch site for any little piece of metal, not an easy task.

 

[GLS]

The exhaust got brighter just before the "BUM", right?
Chemistry isn't my strong suite but, wouldn't a move to a fuel rich burn cause the exhaust to get darker (and colder)? And a oxidizer rich burn make it brighter and hotter, thus causing engine parts to melt?
My guess would be some issue causing the fuel pressure to drop, temps go up, exhaust brightens and kaput. A pressure drop on the oxidizer side would cause the engine to loose thrust, very likely without exploding. Catastrophic turbopump failure... doesn't seem like it, because that (initial) explosion was a bit too much when compared to the SeaLaunch failure a few years ago, when the turbopump blew just after ignition (yes, different engines). But, I have little knowledge of the NK-33, so I won't put any money behind these words.

 

[Urwumpe]

The exhaust got brighter just before the "BUM", right?
Chemistry isn't my strong suite but, wouldn't a move to a fuel rich burn cause the exhaust to get darker (and colder)? And a oxidizer rich burn make it brighter and hotter, thus causing engine parts to melt?
My guess would be some issue causing the fuel pressure to drop, temps go up, exhaust brightens and kaput. A pressure drop on the oxidizer side would cause the engine to loose thrust, very likely without exploding. Catastrophic turbopump failure... doesn't seem like it, because that (initial) explosion was a bit too much when compared to the SeaLaunch failure a few years ago, when the turbopump blew just after ignition (yes, different engines). But, I have little knowledge of the NK-33, so I won't put any money behind these words.

If you are operating such engines at optimal conditions, you are only slightly fuel-rich normally (for film cooling). any shift in mixture ratio in both directions would thus reduce the temperatures.

Also, a bit too much for a turbopump explosion is not true - such a pump has a shaft power of dozens of Megawatts (Pumping multiple tons of oxidizer and fuel to injection pressure of about 20 MPa is not an easy task)

Especially dangerous are turbine seals, they are a common weakness since you often have LOX and fuel right next to each other, only separated by a bubble of Helium. If the seal fails, the temperatures there raise until it fails completely and hot LOX and fuel are combusting faster inside the pump than the resulting exhaust gases can escape. Usually, this happens in milliseconds.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

If you are operating such engines at optimal conditions, you are only slightly fuel-rich normally (for film cooling). any shift in mixture ratio in both directions would thus reduce the temperatures.

Also, a bit too much for a turbopump explosion is not true - such a pump has a shaft power of dozens of Megawatts (Pumping multiple tons of oxidizer and fuel to injection pressure of about 20 MPa is not an easy task)

Especially dangerous are turbine seals, they are a common weakness since you often have LOX and fuel right next to each other, only separated by a bubble of Helium. If the seal fails, the temperatures there raise until it fails completely and hot LOX and fuel are combusting faster inside the pump than the resulting exhaust gases can escape. Usually, this happens in milliseconds.

Yeah, given that the NK-33 is an ox-rich preburner... Anything, and I mean ANYTHING, goes wrong between the preburner and the combustion chamber, and you're in for a really rough day.

 

[garyw]

All credit to Orbital Sciences for not cutting the feed and being open about the damage. They just published this photo of the launch site 24 hours on.

 

[Ripley]

Rather incredible!
It looks just...scratched.

 

[MattBaker]

I really would have expected more damage. Especially those pressure tanks infront of the launch pad seem undamaged while I would have expected them to be practically gone.

Sure it'll probably cost a good sum of money to make the pad perfect again but I feel like figuring out the cause of this mishap might take longer than fixing the pad.

 

[Donamy]

With the added crater. But all the holding tanks and piping, looks like it survived.

 

[Urwumpe]

With the added crater. But all the holding tanks and piping, looks like it survived.

I would say, they just look like survived, I am pretty sure that there are more damages.

But then: These tanks are designed to withstand the scenario of a rocket launching next to them. A small explosion is not a problem, shrapnel could be one.