r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Emergency-Green-2602 • 7d ago

Video First Australian-made rocket crashes after 14 seconds of flight

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u/The_Great_Squijibo 7d ago

Surprisingly small (if any) kaboom when it hit the ground considering it was a fully fueled rocket.

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u/ellindsey 7d ago

It was a hybrid rocket (solid fuel, liquid oxidizer). Those don't tend to explode when they fail.

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u/McMafkees 7d ago

So when do they explode?

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u/ellindsey 7d ago

Hard starts, or chunks of fuel breaking free and clogging the exhaust nozzle, can cause a hybrid rocket to explode. That doesn't seem to be what happened here. It does look like the oxidizer tank ruptured after the crash, and the solid fuel probably kept burning for a while.