Burning motor/hot metal ignited the mix in that video. Schnapps and LOX require
an igniter to burn = no hypergol mix. Alcohol freezes solid in contact with
LOX, AFAIK.
jd
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of Lars Osborne
Sent: maandag 18 januari 2016 17:47
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AR] Re: SpaceX barge landing mishap
Here is a V-2 falling over, but this is from footage 'in the wild' rather than
a planned test.
https://youtu.be/Ii7uwp1SRIM?t=2m22s
Thanks,
Lars Osborne
On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Ben Brockert <wikkit@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
At White Sands they did an experiment of knocking over a V-2 on a
steel mockup of a ship's deck (creatively named Operation Pushover) to
see how much damage it would do, in preparations for launching rockets
from boats. It was explodey. I'd love to find video, but it seems like
the film either wasn't released or has never been digitized.
On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 11:28 AM, Craig Fink <webegood@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's pressurized with helium, so the explosion is really just the tank
rupturing due to flight pressure. Followed by burning kerosene from the
lower tank and a cold white cloud due to the liquid oxygen from the upper
tank. I doubt if there was much vaporized kerosene mixed with the helium in
the tank, but as you pointed mixing with air happened really soon after
rupture.
On Jan 18, 2016 9:51 AM, "Henry Spencer" <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016, Dave McMillan wrote:
I *was* surprised at how instantly the rocket exploded when it hit
the
deck -- I would have expected a moment for the tanks to rupture and the
residual propellants to mix a bit before the "boom."
Remember that kerosene doesn't need LOX to burn -- it's perfectly happy
reacting with air instead. :-) When a pressurized tank full of kerosene
vapor splits open, things can happen quickly.
Henry
