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NASA Probes Shuttle Oxygen Leak

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the getting-started-with-a-bang-not-necessarily-a-good-thing dept.

Cherita Chen writes "NASA is investigating the possibility of a gaseous oxygen leak, posing a serious fire risk, during the launch of the space shuttle Discovery in July. From the article: 'Engineers uncovered possible evidence of high concentrations of the gas in the rear engine compartment about two minutes after lift-off. A leak could lead to a fire or even an explosion in flight.'"

6 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. It's True! by andyb2083 · · Score: 5, Informative

    See DHMO.org for more info.

    1. Re:It's True! by darkmeridian · · Score: 4, Informative

      I cannot believe that the parent post got modded up as "Informative". It's a JOKE! Read the bottom of the site: "Note: content veracity not implied ". Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is water (H2O). Di (two) hydrogen (H) Mono (One) Oxide (O).

      Fine.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
  2. some comments on your comments by JourneyExpertApe · · Score: 5, Informative

    High concentrations of oxygen won't combust, it's the lower-middle concentrations (especially mixed with certain other chemicals) you have to watch for.

    I believe you're confusing oxygen with a fuel. Oxygen won't combust at all. But putting a solid or liquid fuel in contact with pure oxygen and an ignition source is a recipe for disaster. It's true that if the oxygen concentration were to reach such a high level that all other flammable gasses present were below their LFL the mixture wouldn't burn, but that wouldn't make the situation safe because a more concentrated fuel source could be introduced and you'd have a huge fireball on your hands.

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  3. And it makes me wonder... by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Informative

    Historically, there have been many space flights with very few fatal malfunctions (Challenger and Columbia). There were even more test flights of the shuttle craft. Out of curiosity, has it always been a possibility that an "explosion could happen during flight" but with probability on their side, it didn't?

    What I'm trying to say is that you're trying to put a rocket into space with (almost) a piece of the sun on its backside. Aren't there always possibilities of explosions when what's powering you is, essentially, a controlled explosion?

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    My work here is dung.
  4. Spark + high O2 concentration = disaster by Robert+Heinich · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am surprised that no one has mentioned that we have had astronauts killed from this combination: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

  5. Atmospheric oxygen is actually very balanced by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 4, Informative
    In a very interesting book called "Oxygen: The molecule that made the world", Nick Lane explains a lot of things, including why our atmospheric oxygen level is what it is. Even a small increase (a few %) can increase the likelihood of combustion of plant materials and other natural oxygen absorbing reactions. If oxygen gets too low, then carbon depositing reactions, amongst others, increase to release more.

    If you mess with oxygen levels the chances of fire go up quite a bit, one of the reasons why people are paranoid about static electricity some high oxygen environments like operating theatres and decompression chambers.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.