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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."

6 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. All I can say is... by Lord+Lode · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Waaaw, nice video of the crash! And immediately the action in the first 10 seconds of it. Well done!

    Too bad for the money and work that went into it. But then again, this is what tests are for, this result helps progress forward as well.

    1. Re:All I can say is... by plover · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ?

      You can put in a kill switch to the fuel pump to not pump more fuel into the rocket motor, and they no doubt have such devices installed. But the tanks are already full of all the fuel the vehicle will ever carry. And you can't put in a kill switch for the existence of the fuel. Once the thing is burning, any fuel remaining in the tanks is going to get out one way or another, regardless of any switches or valves.

      --
      John
  2. Not sure I would categorize this as a "Failure" by mykepredko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A "Failure" means loss of the mission. This is an unsuccessful test and is part of the process to ensure the hardware will work with a high degree of confidence so that the mission won't "fail" in its actual landing on the moon.

    Something to learn from and move forwards on.

    myke

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  3. Failure is the norm by pubwvj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "For every success story from NASA like Curiosity, there is a failure story"

    Yes, and if you never try you'll never fail. Bravo for you.

    Those of us who explore and push the boundaries do have failures, learn (if we live) and try again. Failure is the norm. Success is the wonderful exception.

  4. Who knew... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I didn't know something so small could be *that* on fire.

  5. Re:"We have to expect this sort of thing"... by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would anyone want to approach a burning spacecraft? Let the fuel burn out, then extinguish the flames of what's left for disposal.