{"id":11827,"date":"2021-03-03T23:55:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T15:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-nails-starship-landing-but-rocket-explodes-minutes-later\/"},"modified":"2021-03-03T23:55:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T15:55:26","slug":"spacex-nails-starship-landing-but-rocket-explodes-minutes-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-nails-starship-landing-but-rocket-explodes-minutes-later\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX nails Starship landing, but rocket explodes minutes later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ODY6JWzS8WU\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The latest prototype of SpaceX\u2019s&nbsp; Starship launch vehicle \u2014 Starship SN10 \u2014 took off from the company\u2019s South Texas test site and flew to an altitude of more than 30,000 feet Wednesday, then descended to a controlled vertical landing after two previous test vehicles crashed at touchdown. Minutes later, the 16-story test rocket exploded in a fireball, but the test flight appeared to be a major step forward in the early stages of the Starship program.<\/p>\n<p>The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) Starship prototype lifted off from SpaceX\u2019s test site at Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:14 p.m. CST (6:14 p.m. EST; 2314 GMT) powered by three methane-oxygen Raptor engines generating more than a million pounds of thrust. An earlier launch attempt Wednesday ended in a last-second abort.<\/p>\n<p>The three Raptor engines shut down sequentially as the Starship soared to an altitude of around 32,800 feet, or 10,000 meters, then the final engine shut down to allow the rocket to begin its descent.<\/p>\n<p>The Starship tipped over to a horizontal orientation for a \u201cbelly flop\u201d descent, using two forward and two aft flaps to control its flight.&nbsp;Finally, seconds before reaching the ground, the three Raptor engines reignited and flipped the rocket back vertical. Two of the engines shut down seconds later, as planned, and a single throttleable Raptor engine put the rocket into a near-hover as it gently touched down on the landing pad adjacent to the launch site at Boca Chica around 6 minutes, 20 seconds, after takeoff.<\/p>\n<p>A hard landing on an otherwise-successful Dec. 9 Starship test flight was caused by low pressure from header tanks feeding the vehicle\u2019s Raptor engines for the critical burn just before touchdown, and one of the Raptor engines failed to reignite for the landing burn on a test flight Feb. 2.<\/p>\n<p>The Starship SN10 vehicle launched itself again \u2014 unintentionally \u2014 a few minutes after landing when a huge fireball catapulted the rocket back into the air. Wreckage fell back onto the landing pad.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the explosion, the Starship SN10 test flight appeared to be a major achievement for SpaceX\u2019s Starship test&nbsp;flight program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThird time\u2019s the charm as the saying goes,\u201d said John Insprucker, a veteran SpaceX engineer who provided commentary on SpaceX\u2019s webcast of the test flight. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a successful soft touchdown on the landing pad, capping a beautiful test flight of Starship 10.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Insprucker said \u201ca key point of today\u2019s test flight was<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>to gather the data on controlling the vehicle while re-entering, and we were successful in doing so.&nbsp;We had a nominal ascent, we had the maneuver to place Starship horizontal when we reached 10 kilometers, right on time. And then during the sub-sonic entry, it appeared we had good control of the vehicle using the front and aft flaps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we approached the landing pad, we successfully lit the three Raptor engines to perform that flip maneuver, and then we shut down two of them and landed on the single engine as planned,\u201d Insprucker said. \u201cA beautiful soft landing of Starship on the landing pad at Boca Chica.<\/p>\n<p>The Starship program is SpaceX\u2019s next-generation heavy-lift rocket, and is designed to ferry people and cargo to deep space destinations such as the moon and Mars, according to Elon Musk, SpaceX\u2019s founder and CEO. SpaceX is expanding a rocket manufacturing and test facility at the Boca Chica site. Musk tweeted Tuesday he plans to \u201ccreate\u201d a city named Starbase, Texas, at the location just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarship SN10 landed in one piece!\u201d Musk tweeted after Wednesday\u2019s test flight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRIP SN10, honorable discharge,\u201d he tweeted after the explosion.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 647px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1367257420184043521&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2021%2F03%2F03%2Fstarship-sn10-test-flight%2F&amp;sessionId=52a48ba42ef098ffb1e1ad5b4ff4c1d770a0ca16&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1367257420184043521\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Musk and SpaceX did not immediately provide details on what caused the post-landing explosion.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is focusing, for now, on testing the 164-foot-tall (50-meter) upper stage of the huge new rocket rocket, which&nbsp;measures around 30 feet (9 meters) wide, about one-and-a-half times the diameter of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.<\/p>\n<p>That portion of the vehicle is known simply as Starship, while a powerful booster yet to be built is called Super Heavy. The Starship and Super Heavy are both designed for vertical takeoffs and landings, with the Super Heavy detaching a few minutes after liftoff to return to Earth, and the Starship continuing into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The entire vehicle will&nbsp;stand nearly 400 feet, or about 120 meters, tall and carry more than&nbsp;100 metric tons, or 220,000 pounds, of cargo to low Earth orbit, more than any rocket in the world.&nbsp;With life support systems and in-space refueling, the Starship could carry heavy cargo and people beyond Earth orbit. SpaceX is of of three industrial teams with a NASA contract to design and refine concepts for a human-rated lunar lander for the space agency\u2019s Artemis moon program.<\/p>\n<p>The Starship team in Texas has \u201csteadily increased the test launch cadence over the course of the program, and have delivered some of the most exciting test flights many of us have seen in a long time,\u201d Insprucker said at the conclusion of SpaceX\u2019s webcast Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA controlled aerodynamic descent with body flaps and vertical landing capability, combined with in-space refilling, are critical to landing Starship at destinations across the solar system where prepared surfaces or runways do not exist, and returning to Earth,\u201d SpaceX said. \u201cThis capability will enable a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration, interplanetary flights and help humanity return to the moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The orbital version of the Starship vehicle will have six Raptor engines and a heat shield to survive re-entry back into the atmosphere. The Super Heavy booster will be powered by 28 Raptor engines.<\/p>\n<p>While SpaceX has made much-publicized progress with Starship test flights in Texas, and is building the first prototype for the Super Heavy booster, development of life support systems and orbital refueling technology for long-duration Starship flights into deep space is still in the nascent stages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Texas team has several more sub-orbital test vehicles in build, with No. 11 ready to roll out to the pad in the very near future,\u201d Insprucker said. \u201cIt\u2019s an inspiring time for the future of human spaceflight. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you\u2019ll join us for the next test flight of Starship 11.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is developing the Starship to help achieve the company\u2019s ambition of creating a human settlement on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first customers for the Starship program is Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who plans to invite eight members of the public on a Starship flight around the moon and back to Earth. His mission, known as dearMoon, would be the first privately-funded human mission beyond Earth orbit, and carry the passengers farther from Earth than any humans in history.<\/p>\n<p>Maezawa announced Tuesday he is requesting applications from the public to join the dearMoon flight, which he said will have 10 to 12 people on-board in total. The mission aims to blast off in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m highly confident that we will have reached orbit many times with Starship before 2023, and that it will be safe enough for human transport by 2023,\u201d Musk said. \u201cIt\u2019s looking very promising.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest prototype of SpaceX\u2019s&nbsp; Starship launch vehicle \u2014 Starship SN10 \u2014 took off from the company\u2019s South Texas test site and flew to an altitude of more than 30,000 feet Wednesday, then descended to a controlled vertical landing after two previous test vehicles crashed at touchdown. Minutes later, the 16-story test rocket exploded in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1648,291,1045,25,597,311,316,317],"class_list":["post-11827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boca-chica","tag-commercial-space","tag-elon-musk","tag-launch","tag-raptor","tag-reusability","tag-spacex","tag-starship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}