[AR] Re: Falcon 9 flight today
- From: Henry Spencer <henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2013 15:43:20 -0400 (EDT)
On Mon, 7 Oct 2013 qbert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> These maybe some dumb questions, but, 1) does this mean that they will
> be venting all the time if the don't get the rocket to relight? And 2),
> does venting present a danger to satellites or other rockets,
> considering it's fuel?
Venting is now considered mandatory for spent stages, and SpaceX will
certainly be doing it every time, relight or no relight. It gets rid of
stored energy that could eventually cause an explosion, aggravating the
orbital-debris problem. (A good bit of the debris problem is the result
of old rocket stages that weren't vented; for example, until changes were
made for venting, every Delta second stage would explode eventually.)
Vented propellant would be a hazard to other traffic only if that other
traffic passed very close to the venting stage soon after venting. The
vented propellant spreads out fast, and eventually blends into the
surrounding atmosphere. (Note also that much of what is vented from a
Falcon upper stage is LOX.)
Henry Spencer
henry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
(regexpguy@xxxxxxxxx)
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