Work on last rocket. So the design is most likely good. This was probably an implementation issue. They had this sitting on the pad for quite a while. I am guessing that a connection was exposed. Keep in mind, that this pad is one of the more difficult to launch from. They reason is the salt in the air. You can thank L-mart and Boeing for that, who blocked SpaceX from launching at Vandenberg.
Lets not blame anyone but SpaceX. How about if you know you are launching from an environment that is humid with lots of salt in the air then design for it. VAFB is on the coast, Cape Canaveral is on the coast, so is pretty much every launch facility (granted Kwaj is pretty terrible).
Also, there are good reasons why VAFB would not allow SpaceX to launch from there. Mainly safety concerns and risk to other rockets/facilities on nearby pads. Who would be responsible if a Falcon-1 blew up and damaged a 1/2 billion dollars worth of launch vehicle and payload on the Delta pad?
The Pegasus Rocket:
1) 4/5/90 Standard Pegsat/NavySat Success
2) 7/17/91 Standard Microsats(x7) Success
3) 2/9/93 Standard SCD-1 Success
4) 4/25/93 Standard Alexis Success
5) 5/19/94 Standard STEP-2 Success
.
How about that? It wasn't until the sixth launch until they had a failure.
Slashdot Mirror
Work on last rocket. So the design is most likely good. This was probably an implementation issue. They had this sitting on the pad for quite a while. I am guessing that a connection was exposed. Keep in mind, that this pad is one of the more difficult to launch from. They reason is the salt in the air. You can thank L-mart and Boeing for that, who blocked SpaceX from launching at Vandenberg.
Lets not blame anyone but SpaceX. How about if you know you are launching from an environment that is humid with lots of salt in the air then design for it. VAFB is on the coast, Cape Canaveral is on the coast, so is pretty much every launch facility (granted Kwaj is pretty terrible). Also, there are good reasons why VAFB would not allow SpaceX to launch from there. Mainly safety concerns and risk to other rockets/facilities on nearby pads. Who would be responsible if a Falcon-1 blew up and damaged a 1/2 billion dollars worth of launch vehicle and payload on the Delta pad?
The Pegasus Rocket: 1) 4/5/90 Standard Pegsat/NavySat Success 2) 7/17/91 Standard Microsats(x7) Success 3) 2/9/93 Standard SCD-1 Success 4) 4/25/93 Standard Alexis Success 5) 5/19/94 Standard STEP-2 Success . How about that? It wasn't until the sixth launch until they had a failure.