"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

On Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at 6:57:25 AM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote:

While I agree it's likely this Dragon 2 is a total loss, we really
don't
know the extent of the damage from a low frame rate cell phone video.
For all we know, at the end of the video, Dragon 2 could be sitting
mostly intact just out of the frame.

I saw an update on this question in AP News today. "SpaceX confirms its
crew capsule was destroyed in ground testing two weeks ago."

https://apnews.com/2d41dee71a3f49feadc5987f59d603bd

Goes on to say: "SpaceX still cannot access the test stand at Cape
Canaveral, Florida, because of toxic fuel contamination."

Which is yikes.

Existing hypergolic propellants are pretty toxic. I'll have to check to
see if the cargo Dragon launch happened last night (weather prediction
was dicey). The plan was to land that booster on the autonomous drone
ship not far off the coast due to the contamination in the landing zone
area. So this is also interfering with their normal launch operations.


Most likely the hypergolic fuels came into contact with each other due to a
leak or faulty valve. The SuperDraco thrusters aren't suspect.