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Delta 4 Heavy Catches Fire
Did anyone happen to see the recent launch of the Delta 4 Heavy from
Vandenberg on YouTube? I thought I noticed flames licking up the side of the rocket shortly after ignition. It looked as if the yellow/ brown insulating material (which looks the same as the one used on the space shuttle) had caught fire. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGUF1...eature=related Now, I spotted on Spaceflight Now pictures of the launch that clearly show a major fire taking place. See: http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d352/launch/ The flames had burned the material surrounding one of the core boosters black and the other two were scorched badly. I'm surprised that none of the news sites are mentioning this at all. Certainly the military is not saying anything about it. I don't remember this happening on any other Delta 4 Heavy launch. It certainly hasn't happened to the shuttle (if the material is the same). |
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Delta 4 Heavy Catches Fire
On Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:17:05 -0800 (PST), Vincent D DeSimone
wrote: Did anyone happen to see the recent launch of the Delta 4 Heavy from Vandenberg on YouTube? We're talking about it in the "Delta IV Trajectory" thread. I thought I noticed flames licking up the side of the rocket shortly after ignition. It looked as if the yellow/ brown insulating material (which looks the same as the one used on the space shuttle) had caught fire. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGUF1...eature=related It did, but it appears to be limited to the Intertank area (between the LH2 and LOX tanks of the core.) Now, I spotted on Spaceflight Now pictures of the launch that clearly show a major fire taking place. See: http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d352/launch/ The flames had burned the material surrounding one of the core boosters black and the other two were scorched badly. I'm surprised that none of the news sites are mentioning this at all. If it failed, they would have. Otherwise, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Certainly the military is not saying anything about it. It wasn't totally unexpected. This was much worse than expected, but charring of the core(s) is normal and Delta IV has plenty of insulation to protect against it. That's just the design philosophy surrounding ablatively cooled engines. I don't remember this happening on any other Delta 4 Heavy launch. It certainly hasn't happened to the shuttle (if the material is the same). I haven't seen one actually take off on fire like that, but the impressive ball of fire around the vehicle isn't new and neither is the charring of the core. http://media.defenseindustrydaily.co..._Launch_lg.jpg http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10274434-239.html Regardless, as I said in the other thread, ULA has some pad tweaking to do, and Delta IV must be one helluva robust vehicle to survive being ON FIRE at liftoff. Brian |
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