Michael West’s Blog

This past week was a sombre reminder that the development, testing and use of space technology can be a very dangerous business. Sadly, 3 people were killed and 3 others critically injured after a blast at a Scaled Composites test site in the Mojave Desert, California. Scaled Composites are one of the new breed of private space launch/tourism companies and won the X-Prize a few years back with the SpaceShipOne craft. The follow on vehicle, SpaceShipTwo, is to form the basis of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galatic space tourism business. More info on the accident can be found on the SMH’s site here.

Although this is the first major accident involving these new space enterprises, it will by no means be the last. Why? Simply because the physics and chemistry involved in rocket science is extreme and pushes the limits of man and machine. Furthermore, spacecraft systems are often incredibly complex, for example the Saturn V had over a million individual systems that had to all work together for the first and only time when on the launch pad. As complexity increases, so do the risks. Everyone in the business knows and accepts these risks, unfortunately sometimes we take our eyes off the ball and it has awful consequences as evidenced by these tragic events.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 11:37 pm and is filed under News - Space & Aeronautics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.