SpaceX Starship SN8 explodes
on landing after test flight
Reuters,
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: Dreadnought,
12/9/2020 11:02:36 PM
SpaceX’s Starship prototype has exploded while attempting to land after its test launch from the company’s rocket facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Live video of Wednesday’s test showed the self-guided rocket landing at speed following a controlled descent before disappearing in a ball of flame.
Despite the catastrophic end to the six-and-a-half-minute test, SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk was thrilled. “Mars, here we come!!” he tweeted.
The Starship rocket destroyed in the accident was a 16-storey-tall prototype for the heavy-lift launch vehicle being developed by Musk’s private space company to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
tsquare 12/9/2020 11:26:20 PM (No. 627566)
It was thrilling to see this huge upper stage launch, burnout, aerodynamic brake, flip, and decelerate...perfectly. Hats off to the team. Whatever happened to the tank pressure in final descent...unfortunate but correctable on sn9, now in the wings.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Jesse Jenkem 12/10/2020 1:42:26 AM (No. 627602)
That descent and flip maneuver will definitely be an E-Ticket ride.
7 people like this.
The Air Force recently awarded contracts for the next developmental phase of their new launch vehicle to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (Boeing + Lockheed Martin). With zero gratitude Musk immediately tweeted his anger, claiming that single-use, throw-away rockets were a waste of tax dollars. These days, he's not wrong.
8 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 12/10/2020 3:45:17 AM (No. 627616)
Yes, #1/2, what a thrill it was! Definitely glad I reviewed the logistics involved ahead of time....I was gripping my desktop the entire 6+ minutes. What a ride!
Stupid headline (SOP): height and in-flight maneuvers were impressive and nerve-wracking and beautifully done; even the landing was 'impressive'! Great TEST!!
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
chance_232 12/10/2020 5:18:43 AM (No. 627640)
The launch was amazing. Whats truly amazing is that SpaceX has mastered landing boosters, on barges, at sea. The Starship failed on landing, it did land on target. I call it a mostly successful test. Hats off and congratulations to SpaceX.
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
proximo 12/10/2020 7:23:32 AM (No. 627692)
Search for a tounge-in-cheek video named "How Not To Land An Orbital Booster", released by SpaceX three years ago.
You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
3 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 12/10/2020 7:53:31 AM (No. 627715)
Note to future space-X pilots: ya’ll need to use a little more throttle on landing....
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Rama41 12/10/2020 8:19:53 AM (No. 627742)
That was an amazing video.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
MickTurn 12/10/2020 8:47:44 AM (No. 627776)
Whoopsie...there goes another Billion or so...
2 people like this.
Musk was pleased, but mentioned the RUD. Rapid Unplanned Disassembly.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
red1066 12/10/2020 9:26:48 AM (No. 627845)
Since the Space X is now in a million pieces, will they be able to determine exactly why the explosion happened and correct it?
0 people like this.
#11 - Definitely. Airborne telemetry is a remarkable field of engineering in which aircraft (including rockets) are highly instrumented to measure mechanical values (stresses, strains, vibrations, temperatures, pressures, etc.) over the entire length of the airframe, digitally encode all that data, and transmit all of it to the ground in real time. As Musk said, SpaceX had obtained "all the data we needed" and it was looking like loss of pressure in the fuel header tank. There's an interesting NASA video on the Challenger disaster that synchronizes - down to the millisecond - some of this measured mechanical data with video from external cameras recording the launch.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Strike3 12/10/2020 11:02:08 AM (No. 627968)
Now there's even less chance that I will be among the first passengers to Mars.
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
MDConservative 12/10/2020 11:48:00 AM (No. 628015)
FTA: ..."a 16-storey-tall prototype for the heavy-lift launch vehicle being developed by Musk’s private space company ..."
Quick, more money for NASA!! We can't have private funds taking over our civilian space program. It's right there is the Constitution...isn't it?
1 person likes this.
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Musk had given it a 30 percent chance of success which is why he was elated. It was the right kind of failure, heavily documented.