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France Media AgencyApril 26, 2019 18:29:26 IST
NASA and SpaceX remained silent Thursday on what caused a mysterious but apparently serious incident Last weekend, during tests on the engines of the Crew Dragon capsule designed to transport American astronauts into the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.
SpaceX said an "anomaly" had occurred during ground tests conducted on Saturday in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A photo on the Florida Today website showed large amounts of smoke coming out of the test site, prompting speculation about a possible explosion. A video posted on Twitter showed an explosion. The video has not been authenticated and SpaceX has not denied its veracity.
Confirmed: the capsule involved in #SpaceX The Dragon Crew incident was actually the March DM-1 mission. This has already been widely reported, but now it is solid. pic.twitter.com/EgAV7nnZMs
– Emre Kelly (@EmreKelly) April 21, 2019
SpaceX has not released more details since its statement on Saturday, and NASA has sent back any questions to the Elon Musk company.
The NASA Safety Advisory Committee, however, mentioned the incident at a meeting on Thursday and confirmed that it was the result of firing SuperDraco engines from the spacecraft.
Patricia Sanders, committee leader, said that "the dismissal of eight SuperDracos had resulted in an anomaly" and that "the accident did not result in injury," she said at the time. a meeting in Huntsville, Alabama. There was no staff present at the ground test site when the incident occurred.
"SpaceX is conducting the investigation with the active participation of NASA," she added, noting that the initial goal was to collect data and secure the site.
SpaceX Space capsule Dragon C106. Image credit: Wikipedia
"The investigation will take time before the root cause analysis is completed," Sanders said, without speculating on the eventual impact of the incident on the manned theft. machine, which should take two astronauts into space before the flight. end of 2019.
Another member of the security committee, Sandra Magnus, called for the patience of the press and the public.
"We know that the recent SpaceX disaster is of great interest, and we call for patience to allow the team to investigate," she said.
NASA has been informed of the results of the @SpaceX Static shooting test and anomaly during the final test. We will work closely together to advance our commercial crew program safely. pic.twitter.com/yE2J5yGzA7
– Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) April 21, 2019
The Dragon capsule was successfully launched, unmanned on board, by SpaceX in March. He docked at the ISS and returned to Earth without incident.
In the coming months, the company should test the in-flight abandonment system.
Dragon engines are designed to start very quickly if there is a problem with the rocket to allow the capsule to separate and rescue the crew inside.
The return of the capsule to Earth would be slowed by parachutes before diving into the ocean.
Boeing is also developing a capsule for NASA for roundtrip trips to the ISS, but its first unmanned trip is not scheduled until the month of August.
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