{"id":37812,"date":"2019-11-20T22:21:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T14:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-starship-mk1-fails-during-cryogenic-loading-test\/"},"modified":"2019-11-20T22:21:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T14:21:07","slug":"spacex-starship-mk1-fails-during-cryogenic-loading-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-starship-mk1-fails-during-cryogenic-loading-test\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Starship Mk1 fails during cryogenic loading test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s first full-scale Starship prototype \u2013 Mk1 \u2013 has experienced a failure at its Boca Chica test site in southern Texas. The failure occurred late in the afternoon on Wednesday, midway through a test of the vehicle\u2019s propellant tanks.<\/p>\n<p>As of a few weeks ago, the Mk1 Starship \u2013 which was shown off to the world in September as part of SpaceX\u2019s and Elon Musk\u2019s presentation of the design changes to the Starship system \u2013 was to fly the first 20 km test flight of the program in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The main event of today, the Mk1 Starship\u2019s first cryogenic loading test, involved filling the methane and oxygen tanks with a cryogenic liquid.<\/p>\n<p>During the test, the top bulkhead of the vehicle ruptured and was ejected away from the site, followed by a large cloud of vapors and cryogenic liquid from the tank.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"SpaceX Starship Mk1 Cryo Failure Aftermath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BakNGBpLSYU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-20=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The cryogenic liquid \u2013 likely liquid oxygen or liquid nitrogen \u2013 was carried by the wind and dispersed over the launch complex.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>SpaceX Super Heavy\/Starship Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 SpaceX Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The top bulkhead was seen landing nearby, but its precise location is unknown.<\/p>\n<p>Space Shuttle models<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Aerospace industry analysis<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Spaceflight news subscription<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>The bottom tank bulkhead appeared to fail as well. A second cloud of vapor appeared out of the base of the vehicle at the same time that the top ruptured \u2013 signaling that the entire internal tank structure may have failed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe purpose of today\u2019s test was to pressurize systems to the max, so the outcome was not completely unexpected,\u201d said SpaceX in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Starship Mk1 was intended to perform the first high-altitude test flights of the Starship program \u2013 following Starhopper\u2019s two low-altitude flights.<\/p>\n<p>The first flight of Starhopper reached 18 meters while the second soared to 150 meters.<\/p>\n<p>Starship Mk1 would also have been the first to include three Raptor engines, functioning control fins, and header tanks \u2013 which store the propellant used for landing.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64100\" class=\"wp-image-64100 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1518\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper.jpg 1518w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper-350x249.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper-492x350.jpg 492w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper-768x546.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/hopper-1170x832.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1518px) 100vw, 1518px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64100\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Starhopper test vehicle performing a 150m test flight at their Boca Chica, Texas facility. Credit: SpaceX<\/p>\n<p>However, the failure on Wednesday will certainly throw off the future plans for Mk1, and those of the Starship program as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>But the impact will likely be limited, with SpaceX also noting that a decision not to fly Mk1 had already been made prior to today\u2019s test. Instead, the company will focus on the improved Mk3 design. Elon Musk noted in September that Mk3 would not only have a very different build process, but would also take significantly less time to construct than Mk1.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to note that Mk1 was not fully assembled during today\u2019s test; its upper fairing was still being worked on at the main assembly site several miles away.<\/p>\n<p>The section at the launch site was made up of the fuel tanks, aft fins, and Raptor engine section.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptor engines were likely not attached to the vehicle, as no engine installations were observed.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX would have likely attached the fairing after initial on-pad tests were completed, as it includes many systems necessary for flight \u2013 including the header tanks and forward fins along with four Tesla Model S 100kWh batteries to power the fin hydraulics.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64096\" class=\"wp-image-64096 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Mk1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5999\" height=\"3999\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-64096\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bottom half of Starship Mk1 on the launch stand at Boca Chica, taken two days before the failure. Credit: User bocachicagal for NSF.<\/p>\n<p>After the failure on Wednesday, the fate of the nosecone is unknown, but teams will possibly elect to build a brand new one for Mk3.<\/p>\n<p>Mk3 will include not only the three sea-level Raptor engines, but three vacuum-optimized Raptor engines.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s failure was noted by Elon Musk, who confirmed on Twitter that the company will move on to Mk3 Starship design \u2013 which will also be built at the Boca Chica test site.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Musk noted, too, that Mk1 \u201chad some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s first full-scale Starship prototype \u2013 Mk1 \u2013 has experienced a failure at its Boca Chica test site in southern Texas. The failure occurred late in the afternoon on Wednesday, midway through a test of the vehicle\u2019s propellant tanks. As of a few weeks ago, the Mk1 Starship \u2013 which was shown off to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37813,"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":[1648,8917,316,317],"class_list":["post-37812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-boca-chica","tag-mk1","tag-spacex","tag-starship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37812"}],"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=37812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}