Slashdot Mirror
Implication of Sabotage Adds Intrigue To SpaceX Investigation (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post: The long-running feud between Elon Musk's space company and its fierce competitor United Launch Alliance took a bizarre twist this month when a SpaceX employee visited its facilities at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and asked for access to the roof of one of ULA's buildings. About two weeks earlier, one of SpaceX's rockets blew up on a launchpad while it was awaiting an engine test. As part of the investigation, SpaceX officials had come across something suspicious they wanted to check out, according to three industry officials with knowledge of the episode. SpaceX had still images from video that appeared to show an odd shadow, then a white spot on the roof of a nearby building belonging to ULA, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The SpaceX representative explained to the ULA officials on site that it was trying to run down all possible leads in what was a cordial, not accusatory, encounter, according to the industry sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The building, which had been used to refurbish rocket motors known as the SMARF, is just more than a mile away from the launchpad and has a clear line of sight to it. A representative from ULA ultimately denied the SpaceX employee access to the roof and instead called Air Force investigators, who inspected the roof and didn't find anything connecting it to the rocket explosion, the officials said. This week, ten members of Congress sent a four-page letter to several government agencies about the SpaceX explosion, raising the question as to whether or not SpaceX should be leading the investigation. Elon Musk said the investigation into what went wrong is the company's "absolute top priority." He added, "We've eliminated all of the obvious possibilities for what occurred there. So what remains are the less probable answers." SpaceX aims to resume flights in November.
Either a) the video shows a projectile about half a metre in size passing through and past the rocket (without impacting).
or b) Its a bee or similar sized insect about 30m from the camera (which is consistent with speed and size).
As to "industrial sabotage"... how? That would be a f**ing big bullet, and yet it continued on without being deflected. I mean it makes no sense because its nonsense.
Look, its always the same, stuff goes wrong with Musk rocket, cars or whatever and its a conspiracy! Remember the New York Times reviewer, who found the Tesla had crap range in the cold? He was told by Tesla support to drive it hard and warm up the batteries for better range, which he did, and stated in his review he'd done that, Musk pulls out that bit of telemetry and announces it is a conspiracy by car companies! Claims the reviewer drove it hard to flatten the battery! His car dies on Top Gear? Conspiracy! Nah it blew a fuse. A SpaceX rocket explodes? Conspiracy!
A man's car drives under a truck.... conspiracy, he's lying. Man drives into side of a truck and dies! He failed to notice the truck, what do you expect, he's a bad driver and in no way is autopilot to blame. A man hits fence posts autopilot didn't see. Liar! Liar! Conspiracy!
Give me a break.
The direction of their investigation was obvious from their previous release where they were talking about the breach in the helium system. They had a "large breach" that could not be explained, so what else fits the description better than a projectile? I was actually modded down for pointing that out (people saying you can't get within 8 miles of the launch etc), but, yeah, that's what they are looking at (among other things I assume). It is not that far-fetched I guess, I mean there are billions at stake here. And if you think about it, if you wanted to sabotage a rocket fueling would be the perfect time - low security compared to a launch (not to mention no bullet-time cameras etc rolling) and yet some activity that could be thought to be related to the cause. ;)
I'm not saying it was certainly sabotage, but, regardless of what Giorgio Tsoukalos might tell you, it is much more probable than aliens
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Given the amount of money at stake, I wouldn't put it past them to engage in a little bit of industrial sabotage.
The Congressmen in question here aren't exactly unbiased towards SpaceX, you'll note that they are all from places where ULA has major operations: Florida, Alabama, Colorado, Texas.
Now I wonder why would those folks have any interest in seeing SpaceX fail..hrmm.
"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier"
I'm just sayin'.
All the world's an analog stage, and digital circuits play only bit parts.
Musk is a PR machine. He will invariably say whatever it takes to keep him in the press to get the free publicity for his corporations. It's far far cheaper playing with rockets than directly advertising.
That assumes humans are infallible and will not misclassify the possible as impossible.