[HN Gopher] SpaceX's Starship SN1 prototype blows up during pres... ___________________________________________________________________ SpaceX's Starship SN1 prototype blows up during pressure test on its Texas pad Author : eternalny1 Score : 19 points Date : 2020-02-29 21:43 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.geekwire.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.geekwire.com) | bpodgursky wrote: | If the SLS blew up during testing, it would set the program back | a literal decade (or more). | | If the James Webb telescope failed during deploy, it would be a | $10-$20 billion loss -- and it would never be re-attempted. | | NASA needs to re-learn from SpaceX's ability to iterate on cheap | designs and flush out flaws quickly. I say re-learn, because they | DID know how to do this correctly during the Gemini / Apollo eras | (TONS of rockets blew up before they attempted human | spaceflight). | | But culturally, something went deeply wrong, perhaps when we | reached the Space Shuttle era, and they lost the willingness to | ever accept failure or pushing limits -- the same process we tell | tell children is critical to ever learning. | gpm wrote: | The pressure vessel failed during testing with nitrogen, no | explosion occurred. | | This probably isn't that much of a surprise, they knew the welds | were far from ideal and already had improvements on the way. | | > We had the wrong settings! To make the welds super flat & | strong, we're building a heavy duty, custom planisher, but just | having the right settings is a major improvement. | | https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1232556310874533888 | | The next version is already being assembled right beside where | this one failed. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-02-29 23:00 UTC)