Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by achamayou 2757 days ago
It’s pretty much out of fuel by then, so an explosion isn’t very likely.
3 comments

To be fair, there are plenty of examples of it exploding after touchdown in the early days (of landings), both on the barge and in the water, some which are pretty spectacular looking!

It may not meet the technical definition of an "explosion", but the fact that it's still intact here is a testament to how "soft" this hard landing was.

There's lots of great videos to prove you wrong on that one, actually.

The most dangerous time for a can of gasoline is when it's just been emptied- because it's actually full, just of air and gasoline vapor. It's a bomb at that point if you aren't careful. Rockets? Similar problems.

Watch what happened a few years ago when another Falcon 9 fell over because of a faulty landing leg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr7GcpFGWd0

Rockets contain both fuel and oxidiser, explosions when they are full are considerably worse than when empty. Compare the video you have linked to clips of Atlas or Soyuz blowing up on the pad.
Too true! The Falcon 9 that exploded on the launch pad certainly proved that point.

Nonetheless, an empty rocket is still dangerous.

4 of 6 water landings blew up. A small amount of LOX goes a long way.