No, I don’t know any more than anyone else, but I fear very much that it’s someone I (and we) know. There aren’t that many people (though there are quite a few) developing and testing rocket engines in Mojave. An exploding nitrogen tank doesn’t really narrow it down–I imagine that everyone (including the hybrid folks) are using those for blowdown pressurization systems.
Between this, and the reported problems with drunk astronauts and sabotaged equipment on ISS, it’s been a very bad day for the space business.
I’ll update as I get information.
[Update]
Now the report is that it was Scaled. They were developing their own (hybrid–safe, right?) engine for SpaceShipTwo, though they had no previous propulsion experience. It’s selfish of me, because he’s the only one I know, but I hope that George Whittinghill (who was overseeing the project for Virgin Galactic) wasn’t there. And this is an interesting development in light of Northrop Grumman’s latest acquisition.
And this will certainly be a hot topic at AirVenture…
[Update at 8 PM EDT]
Here’s the story. So we don’t know if it was an overpressurization, or not.
There’s less detail in it than the story originally reported on Fox News Channel.
Continuing to look for coverage.
[Another update a few minutes later]
This makes more sense. I’m hearing about a nitrous oxide flash explosion. That’s probably what the early reports meant when they said a “nitrogen tank exploded.” Nitrous is the oxidizer for the hybrid engine. One of those cases where laughing gas is no laughing matter. And again, evidence that hybrids are not quite as safe as advertised. Von Braun had a saying: “There’s no such thing as a foolproof system, because fools are too ingenious.” It will be interesting to see the post mortem and accident report on this one.
One interesting note. If this had been in flight, the NTSB and FAA would have been involved in the investigation. But I’m not sure that there is any legal requirement for a federal investigation into it, since it happened on the ground. I wonder if Scaled will ask for one? Certainly, it will be a factor in getting a launch license from AST now.
[8:20 PM EDT update]
Jeff Foust has a link roundup of local news reports.
[Update five minutes later]
As Jim Bennett points out in email, Jim Oberstar will make a lot of hay out of this, and no doubt demand more regulation, even though it was a developmental accident.
Gary Hudson emails that it’s a black day for the business. Just coincidence, of course, but a 300 point drop in the Dow doesn’t detract from the gloom.
Also, I now know the name of one of the fatalities, but it’s for Scaled to make that announcement, not me. No one I know, but someone that I’m sure that many there know, and will miss.
[Update a few minutes later]
The pictures coming in look amazingly devastating. Apparently two tanks blew. As Gary Hudson points out (again in email), and most people are unaware, nitrous oxide can be a monopropellant, under the right circumstances. As earlier noted, calling it “laughing gas” can be quite misleading, but it’s been overhyped for its safety partly by using that name.
I suspect that this is a major setback for Virgin Galactic, because they may have to go back to the drawing board for propulsion, for PR reasons if nothing else. On the other hand, it could be good news for some of the other propulsion providers. On the gripping hand, it wouldn’t necessarily take that long to come up with a good liquid engine for the system, if Burt and Richard Branson are willing to go that route now.
[Update after 9 PM EDT]
CNN has a story up now, but not much new, and no comment yet from Scaled. This is in fact probably the biggest disaster in the company’s history, and they may not have had a good PR plan in place to deal with it, though you’d like to think they would, given the nature of the business they’re in. There was a session at the conference this past weekend on this very topic–how to prepare for such an eventuality.
[Update at 10:30 PM EDT]
Jim Bennett, founder and former president of the American Rocket Company (among other things), emails:
Unless it was on a test stand during a firing, it wasn’t a hybrid system failure, it was a materials handling accident. The question will probably be, were they following the known handling procedures? This material has been handled for over a century, and it’s pretty well understood by now how to do it. I’ll be very interested to see the full information on what happened.
When we were working with N2O at Edwards there was a pretty complete handling protocol for N2O and we had to demonstrate our compliance for the pad testing safety review. The guys at Scaled are certainly professional — even if they weren’t working to the 127-1 they must have had a set of procedures that were reviewed for safety.
FAA may not have direct jurisdiction (it’s a fire and industrial safety matter if it’s at the plant) but it will probably demand the full report as supporting data to the SS2 license application.
[Friday morning update]
According to Space Today, the death toll is now three, all Scaled employees.
And the Bakersfield Californian has the names of those killed, though not the injured:
The victims were employees of Scaled Composites, the company that is working on the aircraft and helped build SpaceShipOne. Killed were Eric Blackwell, 38, of Randsburg, Charles May, 45, of Mojave and Todd Ivens, 33, of Tehachapi, according to the Kern County Coroner