“Major Anomalies” Behind the latest SpaceX Starship Explosion
Mask writes that the nitrogen COPV appears to have fallen below its proof pressure within conditions that should not damage the tank. “If this has been further investigated, this is the first time for this design,” Musk added.
Pick up the pieces
Earlier on Wednesday, hours before the late-night explosion at Starbase, a recommendation issued by the Federal Aviation Administration indicated that SpaceX had set its preliminary launch date for its next Starship test flight on June 29th. That’s not happening now. And everyone guesses that SpaceX is ready to fly another spaceship.
Named after the gun range that once occupied the site, Massey’s test site is located at the bend of the Rio Grande River, just hundreds of feet from the Mexican border. The test site is now the only place SpaceX can place the spacecraft in proof tests and static fire tests before declaring SpaceX is ready to fly the rocket.
The extent of damage to Massey’s ground equipment was not immediately clear, so it’s too early to say how long the test site will be a committee. For now, however, the explosion will no longer provide facilities to support SpaceX in playlight testing on spacecraft.
The video embedded below comes from NasaspaceFlight.com and LabPadre, showing multiple angles of the spacecraft’s explosion.
The explosion at Massey’s reminds us of the rocky paths of SpaceX and acquires the spaceship at this point in its development. In 2020 and 2021, SpaceX lost several spacecraft prototypes to problems during ground and flight testing. The visuals of the ship 36 rising in Flames return to the previous explosion, Falcon 9 Rocket’s fiery end mise With the 2016 launch pad under similar circumstances as the incident on Wednesday night.
SpaceX now launches nine full-fledged Starship Rockets from April 2023, and before the explosion, the company hoped to launch its 10th test flight later this month. Starship’s track record has been horrifying so far this year, with Rocket’s latest three test flights being prematurely over. These set-offs followed 2024 victory, when SpaceX clearly advanced in each successive space-distance test flight, with the rocket’s giant robot arms earning their first catch with a giant robot arm on the launch pad.
The stacked together Super Heavy Booster Stage and the spacecraft upper stage stand above 400 feet tall, creating the largest rocket ever built. SpaceX is already flying a reused, ultra-heavy booster, and the company also designs the recoverable and reusable starship itself.
After the achievements last year, SpaceX appeared to be in orbit for a full orbital flight, an attempt to capture and recover the spacecraft itself. Important space refueling demonstration 2025. The refueling demonstration officially slips into 2026, and it is doubtful if SpaceX will make enough progress to try and recover the ship in the coming months by the end of this year.
Ambition meets reality
SpaceX debuted an upgraded Starship design called Version 2 or Block 2 on its January test flight. Since then, it has been retreating one after another.
The new spaceship design is slightly higher than the Starship version that SpaceX flew in 2023 and 2024. The heat shield has been improved to better withstand extreme heat in the atmosphere. SpaceX has also installed a new fuel supply line system to route methane fuel to the ship’s Raptor engines, improving its propulsion avionics modules that control the vehicle’s valves and reading sensors.