Lots of rumours and armchair theories abound, but I think you're probably right.
The explosion seems to start from well underneath the engines, which suggests a leak.
The fact that the (fully fuelled?) booster tank didn't explode as well is very impressive.
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brb man-child cuck corporate supplicant fuck, Tue 12 Jul 2022, 15:18,
Reply)
Well it is designed to
a) explode in a controlled manner, and
b) survive re-entry
Provided that it was just a gaseous explosion and there wasn’t much shrapnel kicked off the ground equipment I’d expect it to be fine.
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wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Tue 12 Jul 2022, 18:27,
Reply)
What I'm reading now,
which is semi-informed geek gossip, suggests there was some sort of test in progress while the area was vapour rich. Different geeks suggest there was a mechanical test which triggered the explosion, others suggest it was a falling hand tool that caused a spark.
Whatever the cause, it's obviously quite a fundamental safety issue. I'd love to be a SpaceX union rep right now.
The debris/shrapnel is thought to be mostly wood, the black smoke is thought to be rubber or plastic from one of the nearby support vehicles. All just speculation still.
Raptors are designed to survive reentry, but that's a very different dynamic profile to an explosion at ground level. I'd be surprised if they were all good to go.
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brb man-child cuck corporate supplicant fuck, Tue 12 Jul 2022, 19:27,
Reply)
