Grave accident chez Scaled Composites

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Les inspecteurs de la sécurité ont cités la pleine responsabilite du constructeur scaled composite dans la mort de 3 personnes ainsi que 3 blessés suite a l'explosion d'un reservoir dans le désert de Mojave le 26 Juillet.

Ils prevoient le vol de spaceship two a la fin de l'année, les vols commerciaux en 2009, 2 pilotes + 6 passagers

Report Cites Rocketship Builder in Explosion Inquiry

http://www.space.com/news/080118-scaled-accident-citations.html

California safety inspectors have cited the private spaceflight company Scaled Composites in connection with an explosion that killed three of the firm's workers last July.

The citations, issued Thursday, faulted the Mojave, Calif.-based firm for failing to provide "effective information and training of the health and physical hazards associated with nitrous oxide," a compound used during a July 26 test that ended in an explosion, killing three employees and injured three others at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

"Scaled Composites regrets that this accident occurred, and we have expressed our condolences to the victims and their families and provided support during this difficult time," said Doug Shane, Scaled Composites executive vice president, adding that the firm cooperated fully with California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) during the investigation.

"And we continue to work with the agency so that the enhanced procedures already implemented promote the safest workplace conditions possible," Shane told SPACE.com.

Led by aerospace visionary Burt Rutan, Scaled built and flew the piloted, air-launched SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft three times in 2004, two of which launched within two weeks to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

The firm was conducting tests as part of the development for SpaceShipTwo, a larger spaceliner designed to carry space tourists to suborbital space for Virgin Galactic, when the deadly accident occurred last summer. According to Friday's report, Scaled faces up to $25,310 in fines for three citations.

"The company has 15 working days from date of issuance to pay the assessed fines or appeal them," Kate McGuire, a spokesperson with Cal/OSHA, told SPACE.com in a statement.

Like SpaceShipOne, the new SpaceShipTwo will be air-launched by a carrier craft. But the new craft is expected to carry up to eight people - two pilots and six passengers - at a time to an altitude of 68 miles (110 kilometers), where they would experience several minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. Scaled and Virgin Galactic officials were working toward a planned rollout of SpaceShipTwo later this year and operational flights in 2009 when the accident occurred.

Virgin Galactic plans to stage its space tourist flights out of a central terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

zx

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Effectivement la chimie de l’hémioxyde d’azote N2O peut amener à des risques d’explosion :
- soit lors de sa fabrication à partir du nitrate d’ammonium fondu par décomposition
thermique vers 250°C car il faut éviter toute surchauffe locale génératrice d’explosion
( c’est ce même nitrate d’ammonium qui fut à l’origine de l’explosion de l’usine AZF
de Toulouse )
- soit si on chauffe seul cet oxydant (donc même en l’absence de réducteur) par élévation de température vers 500°C ou à la suite d’une brusque compression qui sera pratiquement adiabatique.

L’avantage que l’on peut lui trouver est son stockage sous pression à température ambiante…mais en amont de la chaîne de production et du conditionnement, beaucoup de précautions sont à prendre …mais les futurs touristes de l’Espace sont en aval et ne devraient pas être concernés par ces risques .
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Giwa
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un peu plus d info, dsl en anglais

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Space_tourism_firm_fined_for_deaths_999.html

Eric Blackwell, 38, Charles May, 45, and Todd Ivens, 33, were killed in an explosion at the Mojave Air and Space Port July 26. Three other workers were hurt in the blast when nitrous oxide ignited during a test of the spacecraft's propellant system, the Times reported.

The violations since have been corrected and no criminal charges have been filed against the company, which in 2004 became the first private firm to launch a reusable manned rocket into space.
zx
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Les aléas de l'aérospatial...

Toutes mes condoléances pour les familles.

En espérant que le SS2 renaisse de ses cendres (disons qu'il ne reste pas bloqué au sol)

David K. ;)
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david.rk

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