2023-04-20 06:00:57
The story of Starship has been an explosive start. The maiden flight of the most powerful and sophisticated rocket ever built has finished with the vehicle on fire just a few minutes after its release. This spaceship has managed to take off successfully from the Starbase space base, located in South Texas. However, when it had only been in the trajectory for a few seconds, it suffered an unexpected explosion. For now the causes of the incident are unknown. From SpaceX they explain what happened through a euphemism: “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before the separation of the rocket and the propellant”. Those responsible for the mission They affirm that they will investigate the causes of what happened but while, applaud “learning” from this first release.
In the first statements issued by SpaceX there is talk of the launch of this Thursday like a “exciting first flight test“. The South African tycoon Elon Musk, founder of the aerospace company, has also publicly congratulated the team responsible for the mission for the “exciting takeoff” of the rocket and has advanced that a new launch of the Starship will be attempted in just a few months. It’s not the first time that a SpaceX rocket explodes in this way. In fact, in recent years, several of the company’s spacecraft have disintegrated during takeoff or landing.
“As if the flight test wasn’t exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” they say from the company.
failed launch
Starship was to start its journey from the iconic SpaceX space base, located near Boca Chica beach and about 30 kilometers from the US town of Brownsville. that’s where the rocket has started its engines successfully, has risen in flight following the established trajectory and, at least for a few seconds, it has worked as intended. When the rocket had only been in the air for a few minutes, something went wrong. From the control room they have begun to notify a strange change of direction of the aircraft. And suddenly, without warning, an explosion of unidentified origin has engulfed the ship in flames in a matter of seconds. It hasn’t even given time for the booster to separate from the main body of the rocket. Starship has exploded at about 30 kilometers high when she only had four minutes of travel.
As explained by the promoters of this mission, the objective of this Thursday was to test the operation of the rocket. And in a way, even with the vehicle on fire, something can be learned from this experience. “In a test like this, success comes from what we learn. Today’s launch will help us improve Starship’s reliability while SpaceX works to make life multiplanetary“, they have stated from SpaceX shortly after what happened this Thursday. The technical team of the mission will now focus on analyze data collected during the brief flight of the rocket and, from there, work will be done to correct the errors for the next flight test.
The Starship’s maiden voyage had been designed to check engine operation, the propellant and the different mechanisms of the rocket, as well as the flight and landing maneuvers. The today’s mission had no crew so, beyond the burning rocket, no more losses are lamented. He first takeoff attempt of this mission should be produced Last monday but, when there were only a few seconds left for the ignition of the engines, the release was canceled due to a technical issue in the aircraft pressurization valves. The mission team later explained that the bug had been fixed and that, after carrying out a new technical check, everything was ready for takeoff this thursday.
This Thursday’s flight was unmanned, so no losses beyond the rocket are regretted
The greatest in history
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The first steps of Starship have been somewhat turbulent but, even so, this space vehicle continues to aspire to earn a place in the history books. We talk about largest rocket ever built. It’s about a 120 meter tall giant (almost as high as the Torre de Glòries in Barcelona or the Torre Europa in Madrid) and nine meters in diameter (ie almost as wide as the overall size of the Spanish Miura rocket). It has been designed for be able to transport with up to 150 tons of payload among which, one day, may include scientific instruments, crews of dozens of astronauts and materials to build infrastructures outside the Earth.
This rocket also stands out for being fully reusable. Until now, the vast majority of space missions have operated from huge space vehicles that destroyed themselves just after launch: the equivalent of traveling in planes that fell apart after just one flight. For a few years now, SpaceX has focused on the development of a new generation of reusable rockets, such as the already famous Falcon Heavy. These types of tools will key to future interplanetary missions with which humanity envisions going to and from other celestial bodies in our cosmic neighborhood.
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