SpaceX failure investigation update - October 28, 2016

Below are updates regarding the anomaly that occurred in preparation for
the AMOS-6 mission:
October 28, 4:00pm EDT
http://www.spacex.com/news/2016/09/01/anomaly-updates

From above:

Through extensive testing in Texas, SpaceX has shown that it
can re-create a COPV failure entirely through helium loading
conditions. These conditions are mainly affected by the
temperature and pressure of the helium being loaded.

In other words, there is still hope (as was reported previously by
SpaceX) that this is an operational problem, not an engineering design
problem. By carefully controlling the temperature and pressure of the
helium being loaded inside the helium tank, it should be possible to
avoid an accident like this in the future.

Also, SpaceX isn't the only company that has had trouble with loading of
COPV helium tanks. It can be a bit tricky:

Similar issues at Armadillo Aerospace:
http://spacefellowship.com/news/art1...ce-2009-lunar-
lander-challenge-level-2-done-.html

From above:

While testing of this configuration, I hit on an idea that wound up
being very useful ? we set up a counterflow heat exchanger that ran
the lox vent through the outside, and the helium fill through the
inside. This let us get significantly more helium in the tanks,
and completely quashed any worries about overheating the helium
tanks. They actually start to frost over at the beginning.

Jeff
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