Ever just wanted to blow things up? You’re not alone: So is NASA. Frying things is exciting, and I want to fry more and more things. If you’re wondering where it plans to do it, just ask yourself, because you’ve always known the answer: Florida. Because of course. A Floridian may have tried to drive a burning car, but Florida Space Agency asked him to keep his beer. It’s liquid methane oxygen beer. It will then try to blow it up. Some people just have the best jobs, man.
NASA says all this with a straight face and pretends this is a serious job about safety and not just something it wants to do because why not. The underlying concern here is that all these newfangled space companies want to use new fuels after decades of using the same basic fuels. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin use state-of-the-art thrusters to ignite a mixture of methane and liquid oxygen, known as “methoxy.” The mixture produces less residue than kerosene and can be stored at much higher temperatures than liquid hydrogen, which is -260 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Ars Technica. Sounds great, but there’s a problem: it might explode. Well, if you don’t like explosions for some reason, that’s the “problem”.
NASA is definitely going to do this, so boy, is it going to blow up a bunch of methoxyphosphonate? “This type of testing only happens every few decades,” said Jason Hopper from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, presumably chuckling. Describing the complex, technical and very serious work, he continued: “We put fuel into the rocket, blow it up in a remote area, and then measure the size of the explosion.” The tests were conducted at a test range within Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
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A composite view from three angles provides a complete picture of the explosion – Reliance Test & Technology/Craig W. Hewitt
The reason for blowing up methoxyphosphorus, besides “because it’s fun,” is also because of the possibility of an accidental explosion of a space rocket. If someone did this on the launch pad, the results could be very bad for those nearby! Who knows? But what NASA, along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Space Force, need to know is how That would be bad. Explosion radius, impact force, shrapnel distance, etc. So when a space agency blows something up, it needs to Measure carefully Exactly how it exploded. for science! And safety.
The tests are divided into three series. The first series, completed in February, involved using the plastic explosive C-4 to blow up simulated thrusters with methane and liquid oxygen still separated. As you can see from the picture, this sounds fun, but is it fun enough? Apparently not, because later in March, the second series will up the ante from a measly 100 pounds of fuel to a full 2,000 pounds. This time, the liquids will be mixed. Now we cook with methicillin!
Not prosperous enough for you? Don’t worry: In June, the third series will test a worst-case scenario, simulating a complete bulkhead rupture and detonating all 20,000 pounds of fuel. For this explosion, NASA will actually move the control room from 1.6 miles away to 4 miles away, just to give you an idea of how large the explosion was.
SpaceX, as always, has an opinion. Apparently it has done its own methicillin testing, which it believes shows everything is fine and there is no reason for others to do their own testing. Therefore, its methoxybenzene-fueled Starship rocket is completely safe and should be able to launch from anywhere with no problem, thank you. For some reason, NASA went ahead with its own tests. Maybe it doesn’t want to believe SpaceX’s words. Or just maybe, it just wants to blow things up. In Florida. Obviously.
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