Several observations from the footage available:
Firstly the land legs didn't lock into position
That landing was HARD, there was at least a meter worth of bounce,
notice the transition from the nose to body crumpled.
There was likely quite a bit of impact related damage to the plumbing
given the forces involved
Pooling Lox+Lmethane in a confined space is always a bad thing, the
detonable range is just so huge and requires almost no input energy to
ignite, a warm rocket engine will do.
During flight one engine was running oxidiser rich (greenish flame) and
another fuel rich whether this was intentional or not we might never know.
So yes it landed and thats a big success but they need to work on those
legs, they have been a potential issue since SN5.
Thomas.
On 4/03/2021 1:56 pm, roxanna Mason wrote:
Did they totally shut down all electrical systems that could be an ignition source, or is it hopeless having oxygen and methane intimately mixed?
Reminds me of the DCX when it blew up after a landing gear failure.
K
On Wed, Mar 3, 2021 at 7:31 PM J Farmer <jfarmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfarmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
It was sitting at a tilt after landing. Apparently the landing
gear has been a concern. My supposition was that one or more
didn't extend or lock on extension.
My first thought after the explosion was that the landing gear
failure caused a slow methane leak. That seemed to be born out by
the extended hose down of the vehicle by the ground crew.
John
On 3/3/2021 7:38 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
Yup, blowed up real good! Vid of the post-landing explosion
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECTypGUfQE
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HECTypGUfQE>
I think we can say with certainty that some quantity of methane
ignited. Apparently under/inside the base of the vehicle. Beyond
that, insufficient data. Scheduled venting or a flight-damage
leak? No data.
Henry
On 3/3/2021 4:39 PM, Brian Feeney wrote:
Oops! Actually in several pieces now.
Maybe Liquid Methane pooling under the vehicle??
Cheers
Brian
On Wed, Mar 3, 2021 at 6:26 PM Henry Vanderbilt
<hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
And she's down, in one piece. Lit 3 for the final rotation,
shut two down and landed on one. Slight visible bounce
visible at touchdown, fwiw. Congrats to everyone at SpaceX!
Henry
On 3/3/2021 4:12 PM, Nels Anderson wrote:
Now chilling engines... T-3:00??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTA0GTgFn5E&feature=emb_rel_err ;
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTA0GTgFn5E&feature=emb_rel_err>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOQkk3ojNfM ;
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOQkk3ojNfM>