A rocket engine test gone wrong set off a small brush fire and sent plastic debris flying Thursday afternoon on the Space Coast.
The company, startup Rocket Crafters, was performing a scheduled engine test fire just after noon on Thursday when the issue happened. The company said the engine suffered an “over-pressurization.” Employees were cleared from the test area before the test and no one on site was injured.
The boom left two gaping holes at the company’s research and development facility on Cidco Road in Cocoa, according to images captured by News 6-WKMG, which was first to report the news. Debris was also expelled in the incident, traveling some 100 and 200 feet, said Sean Mirsky, a spokesman for Rocket Crafters.
A small, 4 foot-by-4 foot brush fire was put out by the Cocoa Fire Department.
Rocket Crafters was testing its STAR-3D Hybrid engine when the incident happened. The company, which is trying to lower the cost of rocket engines, uses 3D printing in its engines and ABS plastic — the material used to make Legos — and nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, as fuel.
“Although we suffered equipment and minor facility damage, these are situations that our team is trained and prepared for,” Rocket Crafters said in a statement.
In July, rocket company SpaceX also suffered a small fire during testing at its Cocoa facility down the street on Cidco Road. SpaceX’s fire took place inside a container at the site where it’s building a prototype of its Starship spacecraft, which the company plans to use on trips to the moon and Mars. About $50,000 to $100,000 in equipment was damaged.
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