POTENTIAL LAUNCH DISASTERS COME WITH THE TERRITORY

By Juan Montoya
Despite the soothing words of SpaceX's Elon Musk to a select group of public officials during a teleconference call today where he explained that the failed launch of a Dragon 9 was just a glitch and that they should not be worried about the planned launches from Boca Chica, doubts remain.
"I'm not sure I understand the science," said a participant. "But what makes me apprehensive is that this could happen at this stage of the game."
"It," means that this is the third time that a launch has resulted in the destruction of launch vehicles in the past year. Two were by other space companies other than SpaceX. 
Musk went out of his way to say that no one was injured and that there had been no damage to property in the Cape Canaveral launch. 
But that still doesn't change the fact that launching rockets anywhere is a dicey business.
Consider, for example, that amounts of liquid oxygen (LOX) and purified kerosene-based rocket propellants (RP) used in a Dragon 9 launch.
During the first stage to lift the rocket off the pad, the amount of LOX used in this craft is 262,350 pounds. The amount of RP is 608,475 pounds.
After the rocket reaches a given elevation, the second stage kicks in. That carries 141,095 pounds of LOX and another 59,524 pounds of RP.
This is the way SpaceX describes the lift-off process.
"Falcon 9’s first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant.

After ignition, a hold-before-release system ensures that all engines are verified for full-thrust performance before the rocket is released for flight.

Then, with thrust greater than five 747s at full power, the Merlin engines launch the rocket to space. Unlike airplanes, a rocket's thrust actually increases with altitude; Falcon 9 generates 1.3 million pounds of thrust at sea level but gets up to 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the vacuum of space. The first stage engines are gradually throttled near the end of first-stage flight to limit launch vehicle acceleration as the rocket’s mass decreases with the burning of fuel."

This RP fuel is the one that Brownsville Economic Development Council VP Gilbert Salinas called "the stuff you use in your campfire." Not quite, Gil. This ain't your grandma's kerosene we're talking about here. This is a highly refined (and more explosive) propellant. Unless you want to get blown into the Gulf of Mexico, you'd never think of adding this to a campfire.
We noticed that Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda  Jr.– erring on the side of caution – told the Valley Morning Star's Emma Perez-Treviño that “Hopefully we never see that happen here. It’s very unfortunate. Hopefully they do what they need to do."
Well, we thought that they already were. Apparently, this is rocket science.
Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell also stated the obvious.
“Nobody wants to see that. These endeavors are complicated and difficult, so we are sorry to hear about the setback SpaceX had.”
Harlingen has a stake in the matter, as does the county. Both have invested their communities assets to push the SpaceX endeavor forward.
Cameron County has gone as far as designing the new and improved park system to include a launch-viewing component right off the Brownsville Ship Channel and hope to cash in on the crowds attracted by the launches.
Now imagine this:
Let's say that the LNG plants planned for the Port of Brownsville are operating. That crowds fill the Isla Blanca viewing area and that ships lie offshore awaiting the launch so they can be allowed into the port.
Suddenly, something like what happened Sunday occurs here.
Pieces of melting steel and metal drop onto fuel tanks farms and LNG plants on the channel. Other flaming fragments pepper the beach and the viewing stands. Molten steel is littered up and down the beach and onto ships in the Gulf.
Suddenly, the lift-off failure is not as Sepulveda called it "an unfortunate event."
Fortunately, no one was injured in the Sunday explosion occurring 139 seconds into flight after liftoff and Musk said that the loss is not expected to affect the aerospace firm’s planned schedule for the Boca Chica site.

“At this time we see no immediate impact,” SpaceX officials told Emma.

But it is something to consider as we stand on the threshold of entering this brave new world, is it not?