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NASA Morpheus Lander Test Ends In Explosion

Posted by timothy on from the faw-down-go-boom dept.

First time accepted submitter DishpanMan writes "For every success story from NASA like Curiosity, there is a failure story, like today's Morpheus project test flight at Kennedy Space Center. The project is trying to build a low cost Moon and Asteroid lander using clean fuels on a shoestring budget. While tethered flight test were successful, today's actual flight test ended in a crash and a ball of fire followed by a spectacular explosion. Initial feedback points to hardware failure, but the investigation is still ongoing."

10 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. I aim for the stars by gelfling · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sometimes I hit the parking lot.

  2. Obviously it wasn't the One by Narrowband · · Score: 4, Funny

    But then, they can name the next lander "Neo" and see if they get better results...

    1. Re:Obviously it wasn't the One by CommieLib · · Score: 4, Funny

      That means that their second and third attempts will be absolutely #$(*#& horrible.

      --
      If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
    2. Re:Obviously it wasn't the One by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

      Look, you have to take risks, if you are going to advance the sum of our shared, human experience and understanding.

      Sometimes, you have spectacular and awe inspiring occurrences - that thrill as much as they inform.

      Other times, you just successfully land on Mars.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    3. Re:Obviously it wasn't the One by aekafan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Can I do a matrix-style, bulletime "whoosh" here?

  3. Last message sent by the onboard computer: by meglon · · Score: 5, Funny

    "This is the Captain. There's a little problem with our entry sequence; we may experience slight turbulence and then explode."

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  4. Re:All I can say is... by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, this is what happens when you countdown 5...4...3...2...0! Things get confused.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Re:All I can say is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's like 4th of July

    Unless you're in San Diego; there you'd get at most a few seconds between the explosions.

  6. Re:Not sure I would categorize this as a "Failure" by Len · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well I'm not sure, but my guess is that several of the test objectives did not get checked off.

  7. Re:All I can say is... by z0idberg · · Score: 4, Funny

    >>>And you can't put in a kill switch for the existence of the fuel.

    brb.
    filing patent.