SpaceX's Starship spacecraft destroyed in mega rocket launch

SpaceX launched its giant Super Heavy-Starship Mega Rocket On this seventh test flight On Thursday, it successfully “caught” the first stage booster on its firing stand, but lost its new-generation Starship upper stage spacecraft, which apparently broke up as it reached space. Falling debris from the destroyed Starship caused a brief delay to airline traffic to and from Miami, Florida, federal officials said.

Telemetry from Starship ceased eight minutes and 27 seconds after launch due to unexpected engine shutdowns or failures. SpaceX later confirmed the destruction of the ship. posting on xUsing forceful description:

“Starship experienced rapid undetermined disintegration during its ascent. Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand the root cause. As with this type of testing, success from what we learn “, and today's flight will help us improve the reliability of Starship.”

“We lost all communication with the ship,” a SpaceX launch commentator said of Starship. “It's essentially telling us that we had an anomaly with the upper stage.” A moment later, he confirmed: “We lost the upper stage.”

The Federal Aviation Administration also reported that airline traffic at Miami International and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airports was delayed for up to an hour due to what it described as a “rocket launch anomaly”.

“He briefly slowed the aircraft and changed the direction of the aircraft around the area where spacecraft debris was falling,” the FAA said in a statement. It said normal operations had resumed.

“The FAA is aware that an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 mission that launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on January 16,” the agency said in a follow-up statement, adding, “The operation is being assessed “

Video posted on social media and verified by CBS News shows debris from the Starship falling in the area of ​​the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

SpaceX's billionaire owner Elon Musk later hinted at a possible reason, entry On their “We will add fire suppression to that amount and possibly increase the vent area.”

The giant rocket launched at 5:37 p.m. Eastern time from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, manufacturing and flight test facility on the Gulf Coast, firing up 33 methane-burning Raptor engines generating up to 16 million pounds of thrust .

Swallowing 40,000 pounds of propellant per second, the booster lifted off from its launch stand and bounced gracefully to the east above a long stream of flaming exhaust visible for dozens of miles.

Two minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the Super Heavy fell away and the Starship continued climbing into space on the power of its six Raptor engines.

Meanwhile, the booster turned around, re-ignited several engines in the reverse direction and headed back toward Boca Chica, where the unique mechanical arms on the rocket's launch gantry were open and waiting.

Falling head first back to Earth, the Super Heavy re-ignited its engines as they made it to the pad, ducked down, and then settled directly between the chopsticks, attempting to capture their quarry in mid-air. They closed easily.

first such catch Last October was a success, a stunning sight for thousands of enthusiastic residents and tourists. but super heavy used for the next flight A month later the sensors on the tower, which were needed to help guide the descending booster into position, were diverted to the Gulf of Mexico due to launch damage.

New sensors with more robust shielding were installed to eliminate such damage and SpaceX engineers are optimistic that they will soon recover the Super Heavy booster with the same regularity they have demonstrated with the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. , which is a key element of SpaceX. Drive to reduce launch costs.

In keeping with the reusability theme, the Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines included one engine that flew in a previous test flight to demonstrate its ability to fly multiple missions.

Most of the upgrades tested Thursday were on what SpaceX called a “new generation” Starship. Two minutes after the booster “landed”, the upper stage reached space.

But the loss of telemetry prevented flight controllers from knowing what might have happened during the final stages of ascent.

For these initial test flights, Starships do not attempt to reach orbit. Instead, they circle halfway around the planet and descend belly-down through a hellish blaze of atmospheric friction before bouncing nose-first for a tail-first, rocket-powered splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

For Thursday's flight, key test objectives include restarting a Raptor engine in space and deploying 10 dummy Starlink mockups to test a new satellite delivery system that works like Pez candy dispensers. Starship is expected to launch thousands of Starlinks once the rocket is operational.

Other upgrades included smaller stabilization fins, retuned to reduce the risk of re-entry heating, an improved propulsion avionics system, redesigned fuel feed lines and a 25% increase in propellant volume to improve performance. Was.

The redesigned avionics system includes a more powerful flight computer, new antennas that combine signals from Starlink and GPS navigation satellites, “smart batteries” and two dozen high-voltage actuators, and redesigned navigation sensors. Includes power units to run.

SpaceX also added additional cameras, with more than 30 on board, to provide direct views of critical systems by using operational Starlink satellites to stream real-time video and data to the ground.

While the spacecraft is designed to be fully reusable, SpaceX has not yet made any attempts to capture the returning Starship or, for that matter, the Falcon 9 upper stage.

But Thursday's test flight carried a number of experiments to test a variety of heat shield improvements, including metal tiles and an active cooling system as well as fitting a dummy starship catch to see how they would react upon re-entry heating. Will respond to know more about it.

“This new year will be transformative for Starship,” SpaceX said on its website, “with the goal of reusing entire systems online and flying increasingly ambitious missions as we move closer to sending humans and cargo into Earth orbit.” Moving towards becoming competent. The Moon, and Mars.”

Flying the Super Heavy-Starship on a regular basis is vital to NASA's Artemis moon program. NASA is paying SpaceX to develop a version of the Starship upper stage to carry astronauts to the moon's surface by the 2027 deadline.

To send a Starship to the Moon, SpaceX must first launch it into low-Earth orbit where other Starship “tankers” will assemble, dock, and autonomously refuel the Moon-bound ship so it can return to Earth. Could explode out of orbit and move towards deep space.

The astronauts, launched in an Orion capsule atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket, will meet Starship in orbit around the moon to land on the surface.

The NASA contract requires an unpiloted lunar landing test flight before astronauts are allowed to land on the surface. The ongoing testing program will determine when this may be possible.