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geoffc
geoffc
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Based on the aborted launch on Thanksgiving 2013 of the first Falcon 9 v1.1 from Florida, we know that an issue occurred where oxygen got into the ground based TEA-TEB sources.

I understand that TEA-TEB are hypergolicpyrophoric , which means they combust on contact.

SpaceX reported they replaced the gas generator on the center engine.

This sounds like they might have experienced the issue on the center engine.

What I was wondering, do they ignite the center engine with hypergolicspyrophorics, and then the other 8 all ignite, since there is a 145,000lb thrust fire going on just feet away? Or do they use TEA-TEB on all 9 engines during ignition?

Based on the aborted launch on Thanksgiving 2013 of the first Falcon 9 v1.1 from Florida, we know that an issue occurred where oxygen got into the ground based TEA-TEB sources.

I understand that TEA-TEB are hypergolic, which means they combust on contact.

SpaceX reported they replaced the gas generator on the center engine.

This sounds like they might have experienced the issue on the center engine.

What I was wondering, do they ignite the center engine with hypergolics, and then the other 8 all ignite, since there is a 145,000lb thrust fire going on just feet away? Or do they use TEA-TEB on all 9 engines during ignition?

Based on the aborted launch on Thanksgiving 2013 of the first Falcon 9 v1.1 from Florida, we know that an issue occurred where oxygen got into the ground based TEA-TEB sources.

I understand that TEA-TEB are pyrophoric , which means they combust on contact.

SpaceX reported they replaced the gas generator on the center engine.

This sounds like they might have experienced the issue on the center engine.

What I was wondering, do they ignite the center engine with pyrophorics, and then the other 8 all ignite, since there is a 145,000lb thrust fire going on just feet away? Or do they use TEA-TEB on all 9 engines during ignition?

Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackSpaceExp/status/412126299671781376
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geoffc
geoffc
  • 80.5k
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  • 424

How does SpaceX ignite their engines?

Based on the aborted launch on Thanksgiving 2013 of the first Falcon 9 v1.1 from Florida, we know that an issue occurred where oxygen got into the ground based TEA-TEB sources.

I understand that TEA-TEB are hypergolic, which means they combust on contact.

SpaceX reported they replaced the gas generator on the center engine.

This sounds like they might have experienced the issue on the center engine.

What I was wondering, do they ignite the center engine with hypergolics, and then the other 8 all ignite, since there is a 145,000lb thrust fire going on just feet away? Or do they use TEA-TEB on all 9 engines during ignition?