| Issue 1 | Tuesday, September 2, 2014 | theavion.com |
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Photo Courtesy: Dunderwood/SpaceX Their first reusable launch vehicle, a SpaceX Falcon 9R, ignites its main engines propelling it from its launch tower with over 1 million pounds of thrust. The Falcon 9R is a product of SpaceX’s push to develop reusable vehicles as part of their belief that a reusable platform is essential for economical and efficient space transportation.
SpaceX Loses Falcon 9R in Explosion Faulty Port Causes Automatic Detonation
A SpaceX Falcon 9R was automatically destroyed after the on-board safety system detected an anomaly with one of the 9R’s many sensors. The Falon 9R is the successor to SpaceX’s Grasshopper platform, the first of the company’s ventures into reusable launch systems. The 9R Dev 1 vehicle was designed to demonstrate the company’s ability to launch and land a reusable vehicle. SpaceX aims to master reusable launching and recover-
Icelandic Volcano Eruption Anthony Carpeneti Staff Reporter The Icelandic volcano Bárðarbunga has erupted multiple times over the course of the last couple weeks. Despite the eruptions, Iceland revoked the original ash warning due to lower than expected risk to air travel. The eruption from Bárðarbunga wasn’t aw big explosive event like its predecessor volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted in 2010. Eyjafjallajökull erupted between March 20 to June 23, 2010 and during the month of April; it caused large-
scale disruptions to air traffic that was flying across the Atlantic. For a week in mid April, the eruption completely closed European Air Space due to the ash clouds, for fear the volcanic ash could harm jet engines, and millions of passengers were left stranded as a result. The second phase of the eruption that came from Eyjafjallajökull resulted in an estimated 250 million cubic meters (330,000,000 cu yd) (0.25km3) of ejected tephra and an ash plume that rose to a height of approximately 9 kilometers (30,000 feet). The eruption here was rated as a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Iceland is a hot bed for volcano eruptions because it is basically split down the middle of the country by two tectonic plates. These plates, the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate, have been pulling away from each other. Scientists
ing of their vehicles in preparation for a full scale Falcon 9 soft-landing by the end of the year. After investigation into the explosion, it was determined that the most likely cause of an erroneous data stream was due to the sensor port being block by debris or some other foreign object, as stated by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. In order to assure the safety of surrounding people and property, the flight computer self-destructed the vehicle when other sensors detected the vehicle beginning to veer off course. Despite the vehicle failure, SpaceX officials feel that it does not mark the end of their reusable tests and that
also believe that there is a giant mantle plume beneath Iceland, which is bringing up hot rock towards the Earth’s surface. Both of these factors make Iceland an ideal place for a variety of volcanic activity. Iceland has nearly 30 active volcanoes alone and eruptions occur roughly once every three years on average. Meanwhile, half way around the world in Papua New Guinea, another volcano began erupting on August 29th on East New Britain Island. The large Mt Tavurvur Volcano has started erupting spectacularly and satellite imagery has shown that the plume from the volcano reached 18 kilometers into the air. This is the first major eruption of the volcano in 20 years and it has the potential to cause much more damage, particularly to the nearby town of Rabaul, which has a population of 4,000 people.
Effects of Ash on Aircraft Arrash Shekari Correspondent In light of the recent volcanic eruption that grounded a significant amount of air traffic in Iceland, it leaves many wondering why must we ground aircraft in the area after an eruption. The answer to that question actually is quite simple, it is a significant hazard to the aircraft’s critical systems that are required to remain in flight and it is hard to detect. The ash from a volcanic eruption is in many ways like grains of sand that get lunched miles up into the air during
it does not affect their Falcon 9 commercial launch platform. Garrett Reisman, a senior engineer working on astronaut safety and mission assurance for SpaceX’s future manned expeditions, points out the differences between the Falcon 9 and 9R.
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...it was basically a single-point failure that existed on the test article that does not exist on the Falcon 9.
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Trey Henderson Editor-in-Chief
sand storms in northern Africa, which annually claim many planes and aircrews every year. At the high speeds that a commercial jetliners normally travel, flying through an ash plume would be much like going through a sandblasting machine. This would sandblast a jet’s windshield, block fuel nozzles, contaminate the oil system and electronics and plug the tubes that sense airspeed. But the most immediate danger is to the enginesaccording to Tom Murray, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Science Center. When the ash gets sucked into the engine by the vacuum effect created by the turbine, the ash is melted and congeals to the turbine. Which blocks airflow through the engine, and can lead to a loss of thrust and shut down the engine. The
ash is also capable of disabling the temperature sensor that is responsible for the flow of fuel into the engine, making the on-board computers register that the temperature is lower than it actually is and have more fuel pumped into the engine, causing it to overheat and shut down. The final danger of the volcanic ash is the fact that it is near impossible for the weather radar of an aircraft to register the fine particles of ash, and pilots would not be able to see it visually at night, because of the ash’s black color. In conclusion, because of the detrimental effects of volcanic ash on aircraft and the difficulties faced by pilots to detect it, many aviation authorities decide to ground flights in the area of an eruption to ensure the safety of all who travel by air.
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