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SpaceX has launched an investigation into the causes of the company's new car tour, the Crew Dragon, during a test this weekend, but it is too soon to know way the accident will affect schedules. Even before the accident, SpaceX had "a lot of work to do" before it could send people to the capsule for the first time, according to a NASA security advisory group meeting today.
Five days after the accident, the details of what happened are still rare. But it was confirmed that the explosion had occurred while SpaceX was starting up some of the engines built into its crew. The capsule is equipped with eight small thrusters called SuperDraco engines, which will be crucial in case of emergency during future flights. If something goes wrong in the middle of a launch, these engines can ignite and move the Dragon Crew away from a faulty rocket.
On Saturday, April 20, SpaceX was testing these engines on the company's landing area in Cape Canaveral, Fla. – site of numerous landings of the Falcon 9 rocket. During these tests, called static lights, the capsule is held while the engines light up; This allows the company to test the equipment while avoiding that the vehicle goes anywhere. The explosion occurred when SpaceX used the eight SuperDraco engines, according to NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Group (ASAP), which met today in Huntsville, Alabama. A video on Twitter, which has since been removed, showed the capsule completely engulfed by smoke. Event photos taken from afar by a Florida today The photographer also showed large plumes of smoke rising up on the shoreline.
SpaceX is currently developing the Crew Dragon as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to send space agency astronauts to the International Space Station in privately-owned vehicles. The capsule tested Saturday had already reached a milestone in March on its first test flight, before sending it to the International Space Station. The vehicle proved that he could dock at the station and then land safely in the Atlantic Ocean after a weeklong stay in space.
SpaceX had tentatively scheduled to fly the first passengers of a Crew Dragon in July, a date that was far from confirmed before the accident. The flight will almost certainly not happen here this summer.
ASAP noted that all safety procedures were followed after the accident and that no injuries were reported. "NASA and SpaceX have immediately executed the accident plans as directed by the agency and the company, and SpaceX is conducting the investigation with the active participation of NASA," he said. said ASAP President Patricia Sanders at the meeting. At the present time, SpaceX is focused on recovering the place of the accident, collecting data and establishing a chronology of events that led to the accident. It might take a while before we know how the business will recover. "The investigation will take time before the analysis of the root cause is over," Sanders said.
The explosion already has effects on the company. SpaceX is scheduled to fly a cargo mission to the International Space Station next weekend from Cape Canaveral, but the company will then have to land a rocket on a drone, with the landing platform currently out of service.
It also seems likely that SpaceX will have to steal something else for a next milestone test of the Crew Dragon capsule. SpaceX was planning to pilot the Dragon Crew capsule that it was testing last weekend again during the summer, in order to test the emergency abandonment system (which appears to have been involved in the failure). Known as the abandonment test, SpaceX will launch a crew dragon and launch the SuperDracos, proving that the engines can carry the capsule away from the rocket as designed. This test is supposed happen before SpaceX can put people on the Crew Dragon for the first time.
The extent of the damage on the capsule is unknown, but if we believe the images collected after the accident, this Crew Dragon does not seem in shape. Neither SpaceX nor NASA have unveiled a way forward for testing.
In addition to determining the cause of the accident, it appears that the company still has a lot of work to do before being able to board people in its vehicle. Even before the accident, NASA and the company had identified many changes and tasks to be accomplished before Crew Dragon could carry astronauts.
"Despite the recent incident, many works still need to be completed between [the uncrewed flight test] and a crew flight, "said Sandy Magnus, a former NASA astronaut and ASAP member, at the meeting. "It is still too early to speculate on the evolution of this work based on recent events." The panel also said that SpaceX and its partner Boeing, a member of the NASA sales team, should not be encouraged to respect the calendar. NASA is still able to take its astronauts to the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz vehicle, and will be able to maintain the station's strength until mid-2020. There is therefore a little time left to prepare the commercial crew's vehicles for crewed missions.
Meanwhile, NASA said it was keeping up with SpaceX to understand what had happened. "We have full confidence in SpaceX," said NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Martin. Orlando Sentinel. "Additional information will be published as soon as it is available."
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