SpaceX F9 - 6th Reuse - SES 16/GovSat - SLC-40

[Nikxice]

From the linked article above,"trusted anonymous sources have confirmed to AmericaSpace that the U.S. Air Force carried out an air strike to blow up the unsafed floating booster.".... Elon should probably send the Air Force a bill for providing surface submarining target practice.

 

[ecarfan]

This article claims that SpaceX has denied that the Air Force sank the booster. See SpaceX blew up its own booster rocket after it splashed down in the ocean

The article is written in a rather confusing manner, and I am not assuming it is true. Quote from the article:
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After repeated requests for comment, SpaceX finally confirmed that, although the Air Force was initially considered to dispose of the hazardous booster via an air strike, eventually a commercial demolition company was contracted to destroy it.

“While the Falcon 9 first stage for the GovSat-1 mission was expendable, it initially survived splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean,” SpaceX said in a statement. “However, the stage broke apart before we could complete an unplanned effort to recover the booster. Reports that the Air Force was involved in SpaceX’s recovery efforts are categorically false.”
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[jkn]

F9 is not designed to survive force of waves. If fuel tank survives waves, small handgun is enough to sink it. Problem is small amount of fuel left in it. Perhaps they hired somebody to try to recover fuel.

 

[ecarfan]

If fuel tank survives waves, small handgun is enough to sink it.

And you know that because...?

If it was that easy, SpaceX would have sunk it themselves.

 

[jkn]

And you know that because...?

If it was that easy, SpaceX would have sunk it themselves.

I don't believe it is bulletproof. Difficult part is to recover oil in it.

 

[ecarfan]

There is no “oil” in a SpaceX rocket.

And you did not explain why, if the stage could be sunk with a single bullet, that SpaceX did not do that themselves.

 

[jkn]

There is no “oil” in a SpaceX rocket.

And you did not explain why, if the stage could be sunk with a single bullet, that SpaceX did not do that themselves.

What do you think RP-1 - Wikipedia is?

 

[ecarfan]

What do you think RP-1 - Wikipedia is?

It is CnH1.953n.

That’s a long way from “oil”. Your terminology was remarkably imprecise.

 

[jkn]

It is CnH1.953n.

That’s a long way from “oil”. Your terminology was remarkably imprecise.

If you deliberately spill RP-1 into sea here, you will be fined. With large spill you could end up in prison. I don't think local law even knows RP-1. It is an oil very close to lamp oil. Perhaps snake-oil seller would sell lamp oil as CnH1.953n. That formula tells only it is hydro-carbon with average 1.953 hydrogen atoms for each carbon atom. It is much less precise than expression than RP-1. Propene and cyclopropane have formula C3H6. It could be written CnH2n. Add some [1.1.1]Propellane = C5H6 into mix and call it CnH1.953n. None of those is oil. (I'm not sure that mix won't explode