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Since SpaceX has isolated the AMOS-6 Falcon 9 pad explosion to the upper stage LOX tank during fueling, it seems useful to consider in general terms what was happening at the time and what materials and equipment were around. Rocket explosions usually involve firing engines and/or structural failures in flight, and I have little sense how this explosion was possible.

The current SpaceX statement is thus:

At approximately 9:07 am ET, during a standard pre-launch static fire test for the AMOS-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle.

The anomaly originated around the upper stage oxygen tank and occurred during propellant loading of the vehicle. Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad there there were no injuries.

I have read that LOX makes most anything extremely explosive and it takes very little to trigger that. How little does it take?

Would a spark or some other trigger have been necessary, and if so, what sources of such a thing were nearby? Would it have been easy for some source of ignition to have ended up there from the environment?

Would a leak of the equipment have been necessary for this to occur?

Vikki
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kim holder
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    Any kind of organic substance can cause an explosion if it comes in contact with LOX. http://wiki.nasa.gov/oxygen-fire-incidents/wiki/home/bell-x-1-and-x-2-lox-incidents-naca-1953/ – Organic Marble Sep 02 '16 at 22:31
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    @OrganicMarble Interesting. It implies that an impact was involved in that case. The units aren't intuitive to me, so i checked using this calculator. An impact of 40 to 50 lb/ft is like an object weighing 6 kg (13.2 lbs) being dropped 1 m (3.25 ft). – kim holder Sep 02 '16 at 22:46
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    Also "1- 3 c. Oxygen systems shall be kept clean because organic compound contamination, such as hydrocarbon oil, can ignite easily and provide a kindling chain to ignite surrounding materials. Contamination can also consist of particles that could ignite or cause ignition when impacting other parts of the system" from https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/canceled/1740151.pdf – Organic Marble Sep 02 '16 at 22:55
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    Also this (GOX, not LOX) http://www.tested.com/science/space/530828-spacesuit-fire-nasa-refuses-forget/ – Organic Marble Sep 02 '16 at 23:00
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    Ignition sources listed in 1-2 b of the document in the 3rd comment: Friction • Heat of compression • Heat from mass impact • Heat from particle impact • Static electric discharge • Electric arc and spark • Resonance • Internal flexing • Exposure of fresh metal surfaces • External heat sources – kim holder Sep 02 '16 at 23:10
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    There's some interesting (armchair?) slo-mo analysis and commentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0EOENUw0c At about 3:45-4:00+ the commentator pinpoints the second stage fueling interface as the source of the initial explosion. Unfortunately, the source video is only 60fps and a LOT happens in the 1/60th second between the last frame where nothing looks out of the ordinary and the next frame where flame is first visible. – Anthony X Sep 03 '16 at 02:10
  • I can easily understand how contamination could cause a fire. However, where's the large volume of material that could go boom? – Loren Pechtel Sep 03 '16 at 04:19
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    @LorenPechtel it would have to be the kerosene. That makes the fact the explosion was so sudden seem strange, and i think at that point we are stuck in speculation territory... – kim holder Sep 03 '16 at 14:19
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    @LorenPechtel It wasn't one big boom, but a sequence. The initial visible event might not have involved much material, but would have started breaking things, causing the release of more stuff to make other bigger booms. – Anthony X Sep 03 '16 at 14:56
  • Quite a few materials are hypergolic with LOX - starting a fire by mere contact. And a huge number of materials is just flammable in contact with LOX - lots of them violently so - including a bunch of metals used commonly for structural construction of the rocket. Then once LOX chewed its way through tanks and mixed with kerosene... – SF. Jan 19 '17 at 16:26

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Just to mention one facet of this multifaceted problem, any electrical field potential that exists (i.e. items that aren't on a common bias electrically) can and usually will at some point create an arc (spark) when it discharges. Coupling and de-coupling of interfaces, feedlines, etc especially would be a danger if their electrical fields are uneven. Also, aside from dynamic mechanical actions just stated, static arc production is always possible with higher potential field imbalances, and would be theoretically more prominent. And as Organic Marble brought forth, with high oxygen concentrations, it doesn't take much more for dust or greasy fingerprints to become a type of fuel in itself, conveying the reactive production of (fire) (flame).

Nathan Tuggy
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Russ Reed
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Liquid oxygen contains contains 4000 times more oxygen than normal air (by volume). A lot of materials that are almost not flameable in normal air may burn in liquid oxygen. Even pure oxygen at a pressure of 200 bar is a dangerous thing. Even stainless steel tubes did burn due to a steep pressure rise of the oxygen inside. Even an asphalt floor may be dangerous if liquid oxygen is spilt.

A paper about Resonance Tube Hazards in Oxygen Systems https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820013541.pdf

NASA SAFETY STANDARD FOR OXYGEN AND OXYGEN SYSTEMS https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/canceled/1740151.pdf

A NASA technical memorandum Test of LOX Compatibility for Asphalt and Concrete Runway Materials.

Uwe
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Uwe
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  • This is an interesting answer! Is it possible to find one or two links to support it - the stainless steel tube burning perhaps? I've no doubt what you are saying is true, I'd just like to read more about it. – uhoh Oct 21 '16 at 00:51
  • I think you mean "non-flammable". "Inflammable" means it burns in air. – zeta-band Apr 01 '19 at 19:26
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    @zeta-band: "Inflammable" can mean either "flammable" or "non-flammable". (I agree that this is confusing.) – Vikki Apr 28 '21 at 22:47
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Organics make better or worse fuels, but all are at least marginally combustible; LOX makes anything worse. The issue at such high oxygen concentrations is that even tiny amounts of organic contamination result in flammable mixtures. In any industrial area, the air contains organic pollutants; the relevant question is how much, how bad, in what context and to what consequences. In a place like Florida, the air contains plant volatiles , from leaves shedding, i. e., isoprenes, pollen, ethylene, the light components of sap and resin, etc. For most purposes, we don’t care… except for KABOOM purposes.

caInstrument
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  • A tank to be filled with LOX should be flushed with clean dry nitrogen or helium to remove organic contamination of the air. After cleaning the pressure inside the tank should be slightly higher than ambient pressure to prevent any contamination. – Uwe Jun 04 '23 at 17:17