After inspecting the data from the SN11 flight, Elon stated there was a small CH4 (methane) leak that caused a fire on one of the raptor engines which ultimately caused the avionics system to fail. This is what caused SN11 to RUD in midair
— Deven Perez (@devenperez) April 5, 2021
📸:@astro_deven for @SuperclusterHQ pic.twitter.com/nRMdoI4LxV
Category Archives: Space
Senator Ballast
Will he drag NASA down? Jim Meigs is my former editor at Popular Mechanics.
[Update a while later]
Sorry, link is fixed now.
Chuck Lauer
Rest in peace, and ad astra.
He was about my age. Trying to remember the last time I saw him. I’m sure it was at a conference in 2019, before the end of conferences. I’m sure he’ll be showing Saint Peter the latest Rocketplane business plan.
Spaceship 3
I wonder what the improvements are? They really should have gone with a liquid engine years ago (after the accident in Mojave). They can’t fix the problem with the shuttlecock, but they could fix that.
Continuing To Learn
I’ll look forward to learning what happened to the latest flight attempt.
Is there an SN12? Or will the next test be of SN15?
UFOs
Some thoughts from Bryan Preston.
Europe’s Response To The SpaceX Challenge
…is about as pathetic as one would expect.
I told Clay Mowry back in (I think) 2014 that Ariane 6 would be obsolete before it first flew. He didn’t buy it then, but now he’s with Blue Origin.
Lori Pulls No Punches
She is clearly less than thrilled with the pick of Bill Nelson.
Note the implicit assumption that having an administrator that can get more funding for NASA is intrinsically a good thing.
Glynn Lunney
RIP.
I think he got short shrift in the Apollo 13 movie (as did Milt Windler). Very smart guy, and he was arguably more responsible for getting them back than Kranz.
Read It And Weep
Bill “Ballast” Nelson is going to be head of NASA. This is almost the worst possible pick. Is there any level on which this administration is not a disaster, with less than two months in?
[Friday-morning update]
Five questions that Nelson should be asked (but probably won’t be).
The last is the most important. He’s never given any inkling of having anything resembling a vision for humanity’s future in space.