"A little more than two months ago, a Rocket Lab employee called the Stennis Space Center Fire Department from the nearby A3 test stand. There was a grass fire where Archimedes engines undergo testing. Could they please send personnel over? According to the fire station's November 30 dispatcher log, the employee said, "The fire started during a test when an anomaly caused an electrical box to catch fire.""
"Satellite imagery from before and after the anomaly appears to show that the roof had been blown off the left test cell, one of two at the test stand at the historic NASA facility in southern Mississippi. One person with knowledge of the anomaly said, "The characterization of this as an electrical fire doesn't reflect what actually occurred. This was a catastrophic engine explosion that resulted in significant infrastructure damage.""
A Rocket Lab employee called the Stennis Space Center Fire Department reporting a grass fire at the A3 test stand where Archimedes engines are tested. The fire station's dispatcher log records the employee saying an anomaly caused an electrical box to catch fire. Satellite imagery before and after the anomaly appears to show the roof blown off the left test cell. One insider characterized the event as a catastrophic engine explosion that caused significant infrastructure damage. Two sources say this is at least one of two Archimedes test failures in three months. The Archimedes engine is a LOX-methane design with 165,000 pounds sea-level thrust; nine engines will power the Neutron rocket. Rocket Lab's CEO downplayed the anomalies.
Read at Ars Technica
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