SpaceX launched its huge Super Heavy-Starship mega rocket on its seventh test flight Thursday, successfully “catching” the first stage booster back at its firing stand but losing its new-generation Starship upper stage spacecraft, which apparently broke up as it was reaching space. Falling debris from the destroyed Starship briefly delayed airline traffic out of Miami, Florida, federal officials said.
Starship’s telemetry froze 8 minutes and 27 seconds after launch as a result of unexpected engine shutdowns or failures. SpaceX later showed the destruction of the spacecraft in a post on X, a tongue-in-cheek description:
“The Starship experienced an immediate, unplanned disassembly during its ascent. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause. With a test like this, good luck comes from what we are learning, and today’s flight will help us improve the reliability of the Starship.
“(We lost) all communications with the spacecraft,” one commenter said of SpaceX’s launch of the spacecraft. “It tells us we had an anomaly on the upper floor. ” A moment later, he confirmed: “Indeed, we have lost the upper floor. ”
The Federal Aviation Administration also reported that air traffic at Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airports was delayed by up to an hour due to what it described as a “rocket launch anomaly. ”
The FAA in a statement said it “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling.” It said normal operations had resumed.
“The FAA is aware that an anomaly occurred in the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 project presented from Boca Chica, Texas, on January 16,” the company said in a subsequent statement, adding that it was “evaluating the operation. “
A video posted on social media and verified through CBS News showed debris from the spacecraft falling in the Turks and Caicos Islands region of the Caribbean.
SpaceX’s billionaire owner Elon Musk then hinted at a conceivable cause, posting on his X platform: “Initial indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the hollow space above the shield. ” -boat engine chimney that was large enough to create a greater tension than the vent. In addition to clearly checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to this volume and probably build the ventilation area.
In a press release, SpaceX stated that “initial knowledge indicates that a fire developed in the aft segment of the ship, resulting in an immediate and unplanned disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean in predefined hazard spaces. “
SpaceX said anyone who finds what they believe is debris should call their local government or the company’s Compromised Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234.
The massive rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s production and flight facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on the Gulf Coast, at 5:37 p. m. local time ET, firing 33 Raptor engines that burn methane and generate up to 16 million pounds of thrust.
Swallowing 40,000 pounds of propellant per second, the booster separated from its launch pad and headed gracefully eastward on a long, flaming jet of visual exhaust for dozens of miles around.
Two minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the Super Heavy collapsed and the Starship continued its ascent into space thanks to the strength of its six Raptor engines.
The booster, meanwhile, flipped around, re-ignited several engines to reverse course and headed back toward Boca Chica where the unique mechanical arms on the rocket’s launch gantry were open and waiting.
Plummeting tail first back to Earth, the Super Heavy re-ignited its engines, tilting as they steered it to the pad, and then settled straight down between the chopsticks, which smoothly closed to capture their quarry in mid air.
The first such catch was a success last October, an impressive sight for thousands of locals and eager tourists. But the Super Heavy used for the next such flight a month later diverted to land in the Gulf of Mexico due to the release of damage to the tower sensors that were necessary to help control the descending thruster into position.
New sensors with have more robust shielding were put in place to eliminate such damage and SpaceX engineers are optimistic they’ll soon be recovering Super Heavy boosters with the same regularity they’ve demonstrated with the company’s workhorse Falcon 9 rockets, a key element in SpaceX’s drive to lower launch costs.
In keeping with the reusskill theme, the Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines included one that had undergone a preflight to demonstrate its ability to carry out missions.
The bulk of the upgrades tested Thursday were built into what SpaceX called a “new generation” Starship. Two minutes after the booster “landed,” the upper stage reached space.
But the loss of telemetry left flight controllers in the dark about what happened in the final stages of ascent.
For those first test flights, the Starships did not attempt to succeed in orbit. Instead, they circle halfway around the planet, descending belly-first through an infernal flame of atmospheric friction before emerging for a rocket-powered splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
For Thursday’s flight, major test objectives included restarting a Raptor engine in space and the deployment of 10 dummy Starlink mockups to test a new satellite delivery system that works a bit like a Pez candy dispenser. Starships are expected to launch thousands of Starlinks after the rocket is operational.
Among the other upgrades were smaller stabilizing fins, repositioned to reduce their exposure to re-entry heating, an improved propulsion avionics system, redesigned fuel feed lines and a 25% increase in propellant volume to improve performance.
The redesigned avionics formula includes a more rugged flight computer, new antennas that combine signals from Starlink and GPS navigation satellites, “smart batteries” and power assemblies to power two dozen high-voltage actuators and rethought navigation sensors.
SpaceX has also added additional cameras, with more than 30 on board, to provide direct insights into the critical systems that operate the Starlink satellites to transmit real-time video and data to Earth.
Although the spacecraft is designed to be completely reusable, SpaceX has still attempted to capture a returning spacecraft or, for that matter, an upper stage of the Falcon nine.
But Thursday’s test flight featured multiple experiments to test a variety of heat shield improvements, including metallic tiles and one with active cooling, along with dummy Starship catch fittings, to learn more about how they will respond to re-entry heating.
“This new year will be transformative for Starship,” SpaceX said on its website, “with the goal of bringing system-wide reusability online and achieving ambitious missions as we move toward the ability to send humans and shipments to space. ” orbit of the Earth, the Moon and Mars. “
The Super Heavy-Starship flies regularly for NASA’s Artemis lunar program. NASA is paying SpaceX to expand a variant of the top tier of Starship to carry astronauts to the lunar surface until 2027.
To send a spacecraft to the moon, SpaceX will first have to launch it into low-Earth orbit, where a succession of other Starship “tankers” will have to assemble, dock and autonomously refuel the ship heading toward the moon. Moon so that it can leave Earth’s orbit and head into deep space.
Astronauts loaded into an Orion capsule atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will rendezvous with the spacecraft in orbit around the Moon for descent to the surface.
NASA’s contract calls for an unmanned moon landing verification flight before astronauts can be allowed to lower one to the surface. The ongoing verification program will indicate when this will be possible.