[ad_1]
SpaceX finally confirmed Thursday that its crew capsule was destroyed during the ground tests two weeks ago and acknowledged that the accident was not good news for the company's efforts to launch astronauts this year.
Hans Koenigsmann, a vice president of the company, told reporters that it was too early to know what went wrong during the April 20 test or whether the test flight of the capsule of the Dragon crew in March – minus the astronauts – had contributed to the failure.
The flames engulfed the capsule half a second before launching thrusters.
According to Koenigsmann, SpaceX still can not access the Cape Canaveral test area for security reasons. The company does not want to disturb any evidence likely to provide clues to this failure, he noted.
The company concluded, meanwhile, that the smaller and simpler cargo version of the Dragon capsule was safe for the International Space Station. SpaceX was about to launch a Falcon rocket with supplies for the station early Friday morning in the United States, although the imminent storms are threatening another delay. Earlier in the week, the flight was postponed due to a serious power shortage at the space station.
An old power switching unit failed Monday, drastically reducing power to the space station by 25% and excluding any delivery. On Thursday, the flight controllers had replaced the box and restored all the power of the outpost to orbit.
Because the April 20 accident occurred so close to the SpaceX landing site at Cape Canaveral Air Base, the cargo launch booster can not return after take-off. Instead, the first-stage booster targeted a barge parked about 20 km off shore, much closer than usual.
The cargo and crew versions of the Dragon capsule are very different. The Dragon cargo does not have SuperDraco thrusters built into the flanks of the Dragon crew. These thrusters would be used in case of emergency to shoot a capsule of a recently launched rocket. They were not used during the test flight to the space station in March.
Koenigsmann said that he did not believe that the thrusters themselves had caused the accident. The system had been activated (which involves opening and closing valves and pressurizing systems) when flames erupted.
SpaceX will launch the new Dragon crew in another test this summer, to see how the SuperDraco thrusters work in an interrupted flight. More crew dragons are being built and may be used for this test, according to Koenigsmann.
Koenigsmann hopes that SpaceX will be able to send two NASA astronauts to the space station this year. The impact on the schedule will depend on the results of the investigation into the accident, he said.
NASA has contracted SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station instead of forcing them to take expensive Russian rocket launches.
Prior to the accident, SpaceX was shooting for the launch of a crew in the summer. "I do not want to completely exclude the current program," he said.
"This is certainly not good news for the entire schedule, but I hope we can recover," Koenigsmann said. The company has been in contact with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who will be taking part in the upcoming Dragon test flight for space. station – and both offered encouragement and motivation. Boeing has also experienced recent delays with its Starliner capsules.
The company is striving to launch a Starliner without astronauts at the space station in August.
This story originally appeared in news.com.au.
[ad_2]
Source link