SN5 about to get wet, and maybe glow

On 2020-07-12 8:22 PM, JF Mezei wrote:
Was there any confirmation of the cause of the SN4 instant explosion?
(I assume internally they know).



Last I read it was due to problems with the methane line quick
disconnects in the test stand. They properly disconnected but failed
spectacularly during reconnect. Allowing methane to leak massively until
it diffused enough to catch fire and explode in a fuel/air explosion.
I'm assuming the source of the leak was the fuel tank of SN4 itself
since upstream supply valves should have been closed to prevent leaks
from the methane supply lines. But I do not know this to be fact. Since
the fire and explosion blew SN4 off the test stand and not the supply
lines or tanks, this is probably a safe assumption.The tweet from Elon
mentioned a problem with the disconnects but not the exact issue. I'm
not sure where I got the re-connect issue description from, might have
been from a web forum I read. But it would make some sense. I had
experience with hydraulic quick disconnects in my youth. Usually a
disconnect was not nearly as hard as a connect in my experience.

Dave