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Parts of the SpaceX Falcon-9 Rocket Found Off the Isles of Scilly (bbc.com)

New submitter AppleHoshi writes: The BBC is reporting that a large chunk of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, which exploded shortly after take-off from Cape Canaveral earlier this year, has been found 4,000 miles away, in the sea off the Isles of Scilly. The recovered section is approximately 10m (32ft) by 4m (13ft). It was discovered by a local coastguard patrol, though they didn't recognize it until they scraped off a layer of goose barnacles.

29 comments

  1. Well now that's just plain silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To lose part of your rocket.

    1. Re:Well now that's just plain silly by dotancohen · · Score: 2

      To lose part of your rocket.

      I had no idea that Elon Musk is Jewish!

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    2. Re:Well now that's just plain silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well he did get his fortune from PayPal, arguably one of shadiest companies on the internet.

    3. Re: Well now that's just plain silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didnt you know that only jews like money, electric cars, space and want to rule over the world?

    4. Re:Well now that's just plain silly by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      Well he did get his fortune from PayPal, arguably one of shadiest companies on the internet.

      True, but my understanding was that most of the shadiness came along after he sold it. Do I have it wrong?

    5. Re: Well now that's just plain silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No that was Elon. Dodgy as fck bank that didn't follow bankingregs and lobbied/astroturfed to avoid early closure till it was toobig for the cfedit card companies to pull the plug. I wonder how you Elon astroturfers will rewrite this crash bit of his history?

  2. This is the top of stage 1 of falcon 9. by queazocotal · · Score: 2

    http://www.spacex.com/sites/al...
    I don't know if it's clear what launch it's from. Several have gone into the ocean, both from attempts at landing on the barge, and ditching in the ocean.
    This is the top of the first stage. There may be an empty helium tank inside this acting as flotation. The helium tanks are really robust, and have separately survived even really fast impacts.
    http://forum.nasaspaceflight.c...

    1. Re:This is the top of stage 1 of falcon 9. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or the bottom of stage 2. It depends on what photo you look at. They said there is an american flag with Falcon 9 near it. Which would match the bottom of stage 2.

  3. Ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok? What is there to discuss? Rocket explodes, pieces fall into ocean. Pieces later float up somewhere. News for nerds?

    1. Re:Ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to some nerds, this is the beginning of the Human Species' Holy Expansion in the (entire!) universe!

      These rocket shards are like pieces of the Cross. They will be preserved in a space museum for future generations to touch when they pilgrimage back to the Solar System!!

    2. Re:Ok? by hey! · · Score: 0

      News for nerds? Sure. Stuff that matters? No.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Ok? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many rockets do you know that have triple-redundant computers for each of the 9 engines (to cope with radiation in space), and on-board computers to do real-time re-calculations of flight planning in case one of the engines does not work as planned, all without any ground control, and all of that running on Linux?

  4. BBC is wrong, it's NOT from the exploded rocket! by VideoPrincess · · Score: 5, Informative

    The part found is not from the recent explosion, it's from the CRS-4 resupply mission to the International Space Station that launched on 21st September 2014. See the Reddit thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/space... The part is the interstage separator, a carbon fibre component that sits between the first and second stages. It stays attached to the first stage after the second stage detaches - in the case of CRS-4 it re-entered the atmosphere under controlled flight, and was videoed by NASA to gain information on supersonic retropropulsion: https://www.reddit.com/r/space...

  5. CRS-4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This seems to be a part of CRS-4 according to reddit:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/3ugqa1/the_rocket_part_found_in_scilly_uk_is_from_crs4/

  6. Goose barnacles? by Bearhouse · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wikipedia to the rescue:

    In the days before it was realised that birds migrate, it was thought that barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis, developed from this crustacean, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe,[2] hence the English names "goose barnacle", "barnacle goose" and the scientific name Lepas anserifera (Latin anser = "goose"). The confusion was prompted by the similarities in colour and shape. Because they were often found on driftwood, it was assumed that the barnacles were attached to branches before they fell in the water. The Welsh monk, Giraldus Cambrensis, made this claim in his Topographia Hiberniae.[3]
    Since barnacle geese were thought to be "neither flesh, nor born of flesh", they were allowed to be eaten on days when eating meat was forbidden by Christianity,[2] though it was not universally accepted. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II examined barnacles and noted no evidence of any bird-like embryo in them, and the secretary of Leo of Rozmital wrote a very skeptical account of his reaction to being served the goose at a fast-day dinner in 1456.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    1. Re: Goose barnacles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heh heh, they said "Goose barnacles".

    2. Re:Goose barnacles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awesome, I'll start my counterfeit coat company: Canada Goose Barnacles.

    3. Re:Goose barnacles? by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The BBC report has an interesting detail: A cook noticed the amount of barnacles stuck in the fragment and asked how much they want for them (90 euros per kilo, I did a quick search). I would research what barnacles liked so much in the rocket frame to join in this quantity and sell for Spanish cuisine :-)

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
    4. Re:Goose barnacles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does it work better at catching barnacles than B777 flaperons ?

    5. Re:Goose barnacles? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      90 euros per kilo

      Are barnacles some sort of delicacy, or is the price just due to the space rocket association?

      I thought they were just things that clogged up the bottom of boats.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  7. How do they know its from the latest launch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can it be a part of an earlier f9 first stage? To me the amount of barnicles looks like it was in the water for at least a year.

  8. Re:BBC is wrong, it's NOT from the exploded rocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Link to something other than Reddit if you want any credibility. Not saying you're wrong, but a Reddit threat is not and never will be a source.

  9. Re:BBC is wrong, it's NOT from the exploded rocket by bondsbw · · Score: 1

    but a Reddit threat is not and never will be a source.

    Neither is Slashdot, so who cares? OP gave you the primary information, if you need more confirmation in order to decide if this is "good" or "bad" or something else, you can do it yourself.

    And if your research is for a more important purpose than personal satisfaction, you really should be ashamed of asking someone else to do your job.

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  10. Re:BBC is wrong, it's NOT from the exploded rocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, burden of proof should always be on the one HEARING the claim.

  11. Re:BBC is wrong, it's NOT from the exploded rocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The proof is in the positioning of the logo: http://i.imgur.com/15qShQd.jpg
    The BBC is wrong here, CRS-7 had grid fins which should have been visible on the found part.

  12. Re:Goose barnacles & cargo ships by AppleHoshi · · Score: 1

    A hilarious booper in the original BBC article (since updated) was the statement (repeated in two different places in the text) that the Falcon-9 mission was "...sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station". Poor little Falcon; no wonder it burst a seam.

  13. found by Fishermen, towed to harbour by Coastguard by eionmac · · Score: 1

    Found by HMCG is wrong. Fishermen found it, coastguard towed it in.

    --
    Regards Eion MacDonald