Starship: a 7th flight failed but Elon Musk finds it “entertaining”

© SpaceX

Last night, Elon Musk's company SpaceX attempted to fly its Starship megarocket. A seventh experiment that was supposed to confirm the achievements of previous flights, but also open a new chapter in the development of the launcher. SpaceX was, as usual, very confident about this new type of mission. It was to consist of three important phases.

A millimeter-precise programming

© Flickr/SpaceX

First, Starship was to take off using its 33 engines. The first stage would then push the spacecraft forward before the two blocks separated. Once this division was done, the booster had to return to Earth and be “caught” by a large steel tower. An extremely delicate maneuver, but already successful by the company during the 5th flight of the Starship . Successful during this 7th flight, it is the only satisfaction of the night for SpaceX.

The second important point for this mission was the Starship's in-flight movements. Once in orbit, the spacecraft had to simulate the release of satellites. Starship also had to re-ignite its engines to prove that they were working properly.

Finally, the last part of the flight, the Starship had to return to Earth without incident. This was the most difficult section for SpaceX so far. The company had a lot of trouble bringing its ship back intact. To give itself a better chance, it had completely redesigned its ship's heat shield. An effort that ultimately was useless.

And for good reason, Starship never needed to return to Earth, the ship did not even reach orbit. Instead, SpaceX offered us a premature finale in the form of a fireworks display as impressive as it was dangerous. A few minutes after takeoff, the control center lost contact with the ship. As is customary in these moments, the craft self-destructed, dispersing into a thousand incandescent pieces in the sky of Puerto Rico.

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A finale in pudding mud

To say that this 7th of Starship is a failure is an understatement. Although Elon Musk was quick to muddy the waters by assuring that this unexpected spectacle was very entertaining, the consequences of this 7th flight could be dire for SpaceX.

The company will have to undergo a long and perilous investigation by the FAA (the American Aviation Association) before even thinking about flying again. By blowing up its ship a few minutes after takeoff, SpaceX has not only failed, the company has created a real mess in the aviation world. Planes have been hijacked and some debris could have fallen on inhabited areas. The FAA is likely to ask SpaceX for even more guarantees before granting it flight permission again.
The company will therefore have to show its credentials in the coming weeks if it does not want to see its program forcibly shut down.

A diagnosis to be made as soon as possible

Far from being defeated, the SpaceX teams see this 7th flight as an additional challenge. Already during the night, initial conclusions on the origin of this crash were emerging. In Elon Musk's own words, a leak of liquid oxygen (the spacecraft's fuel) would be the cause of the loss of signal. In this same message on social networks, he is already putting pressure on the FAA by assuring that “there is no indication” that the next flight should be postponed.

A short sentence that is anything but insignificant, and for good reason, the Starship schedule is more than tight. SpaceX must urgently bring its craft into orbit to pass a whole bunch of NASA tests. Without the success of these tests, the Starship will not be selected by the space agency to bring the Artemis 3 astronauts back to Earth. A mission that should bring in billions of dollars to SpaceX as well as a place, forever, in the history books.

Despite this incident and this 7th flight in half-tones, SpaceX still seems to have the confidence, at least superficially, of NASA. The head of the agency, Bill Nelson, wanted to congratulate SpaceX for this mission and in particular the capture of the first stage. For the rest, you will have to wait for the 8th volume.

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