The explosion that destroyed the upper tier of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle (Jan. 16) was likely due to a leak, Elon Musk claimed.
Starship appeared in the afternoon from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas, kicking off the seventh flight test of the 403-foot-tall (123-meter) megarocket.
At first things went well. The two levels of the vehicle (the Super Heavy booster and the ship’s upper-level spacecraft) separated in time, and Super Heavy returned to Starbase as planned, where it passed through the ship’s “wand” arms. the liberation tower.
However, the ship suffered disorders shortly after its companion’s big moment. The 52-meter-tall spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean about 8. 5 minutes after liftoff, creating an aerial spectacle watched by observers in the Turks and Caicos Islands and other nearby locations.
Although the investigation into the anomaly is in its early stages, SpaceX already knows the probable cause, according to Musk, the company’s founder and CEO.
“The initial indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the hollow space above the ship’s engine chimney wall that was large enough to create a stress that exceeds the ventilation capacity. In addition to an apparent double check of leaks, we are going to increase fire suppression “Volume and probably increase the ventilation area, nothing so far suggests delaying the next launch beyond next month,” Musk said through X, the social media platform he owns , approximately 2. 5 hours after the launch of the Flight 7. . (Starship’s Raptor engines run on liquid oxygen and liquid methane. )
As the last component of this article indicates, SpaceX plans to fly Starship in 2025; The company has asked for permission to launch Starbase’s megarocket up to 25 times this year.
Related: SpaceX takes verification of Starship Booster Super Heavy Flight 7 but loses the top tier (video, photos)
Starship Flight 7 disintegrates and re-enters over the Turks and Caicos Islands pic. twitter. com/iuQ0YAy17OJanuary 16, 2025
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This voltage surge caused a fire “in the rear of the craft, leading to an immediate and unplanned disassembly,” SpaceX wrote in a blog post about Flight 7 last night, emphasizing that this interpretation is based on initial findings. knowledge analysis. (“Unscheduled rapid takedown” is a technical term for a spacecraft explosion. )
“We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests,” the company added, referring to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
“The spacecraft flew in its designated release lane, as do all US launches to the public on land, water and air,” SpaceX continued in the blog post. “Any surviving debris would have fallen into the designated danger zone. “
Still, the anomaly did have some effects beyond the SpaceX sphere. “The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling,” agency officials told Space.com via email yesterday afternoon, noting that normal aircraft operations resumed shortly thereafter.
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Michael Wall is Senior Space Editor at Space. com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight, and military space, but has been known to delve into the realm of space art. His book about the search for extraterrestrial life, “Out There,” was published on November 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph. D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in scientific writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest assignment is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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