Virgin Galactic 'ignored' warnings: expert

Virgin Galactic 'ignored' warnings: expert
By admin


A rocket science safety expert says Virgin Galactic "ignored" safety warnings in the years leading up to the deadly crash of its spacecraft in California.

Carolynne Campbell, a rocket propulsion expert with the Netherlands-based International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, says she can't speculate on the cause of Friday's crash without "all the data."

However, she says multiple warnings have been issued to Virgin since 2007, when three engineers died testing a rocket on the ground.

"Based on the work we've done, including me writing a paper on the handling of nitrous oxide, we were concerned about what was going on at Virgin Galactic," Campbell said on Sunday.

"I sent copies of the paper to various people at Virgin Galactic in 2009, and they were ignored," she said.

Campbell said she outlined concerns in a subsequent phone conversation but her warning again went unheeded.

"I warned them … that the rocket motor was potentially dangerous."

Campbell's warnings related to nitrous oxide, which has been used as a fuel component in previous test flights.

Friday's flight was reportedly the first using a new kind of fuel derived from nylon but it was not clear whether nitrous oxide was also involved.

A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board has been deployed to the Mojave Desert to probe the accident, which left pilot Michael Alsbury dead and co-pilot Pete Siebold seriously injured.

Virgin chief Richard Branson told reporters in Mojave on Saturday safety had always been the company's paramount concern.

It would not "push on blindly" with its ambitious space program until the causes of the accident had been determined, he added.

The British tycoon, however, took aim at early speculation of the causes of the crash.

"To be honest, I find it slightly irresponsible people who know nothing about what they're saying can be saying things before the NTSB makes their comments," he said.

Witnesses say there was no obvious sign of an explosion before Virgin's suborbital SpaceShipTwo broke apart shortly after it had detached from a mothership at an altitude of around 13,700 metres.

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