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SpaceX: monster Falcon & Dragon update...
LOTS videos, pictures and info on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spaceship.
Interesting is its 'engine out' capability; it can continue flying even if an engine (or two) or an engine component blows;
Over the next three to four months, we will gradually add more engines until reaching the full complement of nine. Once we have all nine engines and the stage working well as a system, we will extensively test the “engine out†capability. This includes explosive and fire testing of the barriers that separate the engines from each other and from the vehicle.
It should be said that the failure modes we’ve seen to date on the test stand for the Merlin 1C are all relatively benign – the turbo pump, combustion chamber and nozzle do not rupture explosively even when subjected to extreme circumstances. We have seen the gas generator (which drives the turbo pump assembly) blow apart during a start sequence (there are now checks in place to prevent that from happening), but it is a small device, unlikely to cause major damage to its own engine, let alone the neighboring ones.
Even so, as with engine nacelles on commercial jets, the fire/explosive barriers will assume that the entire chamber blows apart in the worst possible way. The bottom close out panels are designed to direct any force or flame downward, away from neighboring engines and the stage itself.
It should be said that the failure modes we’ve seen to date on the test stand for the Merlin 1C are all relatively benign – the turbo pump, combustion chamber and nozzle do not rupture explosively even when subjected to extreme circumstances. We have seen the gas generator (which drives the turbo pump assembly) blow apart during a start sequence (there are now checks in place to prevent that from happening), but it is a small device, unlikely to cause major damage to its own engine, let alone the neighboring ones.
Even so, as with engine nacelles on commercial jets, the fire/explosive barriers will assume that the entire chamber blows apart in the worst possible way. The bottom close out panels are designed to direct any force or flame downward, away from neighboring engines and the stage itself.
Examples;
Fire in the hole! Falcon 9 1st stage hot fire with 1 engine. Over the next few months they'll add more until they reach the 9 pack used for launch. Just imagine 9 times this....or 27 times this for the Falcon 9 Heavy....3 of these boosters strapped together.
Merlin 1C regenerative engine
Falcon 9 cargo fairing (1/2)
Dragon spaceship engineering model
Digital modeling of Dragon heat distribution
PICA (Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator) tiles, the highest heat resistance material known, being attached to heat shield engineering model. At heat fluxes that would vaporize steel PICA is barely scathed.
Completed heat shield testing unit
