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by mabbo 3062 days ago
SpaceX hasn't failed a landing of a booster in two years (correct me if I'm wrong). I hope a lot of data was collected as to why and how it failed.

SpaceX's biggest advantage is that they iterate quickly. Hopefully next iteration fixes whatever problem they had today. Those boosters aren't cheap.
1 comments
sehugg 3062 days ago
Musk attributed it to low levels of triethylborane—a hot-burning propellant that essentially acts as rocket engines' starter fluid—in the center booster.

The center core is a special structurally enhanced model, so I'll give them a pass since they're flying a new bird. I'm sure they'll get it right.

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mabbo 3061 days ago
That makes a lot of sense. The center core had to ignite for liftoff, then either scale back or stop entirely during the main lift phase, then re-ignite when the side boosters detached, then reignite for the boostback, entry AND landing burns. That's a lot of re-ignition!

I hope they post a very high quality video of that booster having its unplanned disassembly. May not be great for PR, etc, but it sure would be entertaining.

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