SpaceX’s Starship exploded shortly after launching in Texas. The most powerful rocket ever constructed exploded in midair. Thankfully, no one was aboard at the time. Last week, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) granted SpaceX permission to perform the uncrewed flight.
While the spacecraft failed to reach orbit, it wasn’t a complete failure for Elon Musk and SpaceX. The private company was founded by the tech mogul. Prior to the launch, Musk noted the company may need to conduct several test runs before becoming successful.
SpaceX’s Plan
This test flight was to see if Starship could reach speeds fast enough to enter orbit before splashing back to Earth near Hawaii. SpaceX’s plan was for the spacecraft to splash down into the Pacific Ocean.
The spacecraft may have only been airborne for four minutes but that was long enough for reams of data to flow to the engineers. SpaceX’s rocket was able to fly up away from the launchpad before exploding.
Musk told Twitter users on Sunday the launch was “purely [a] learning” experience. One where they could gather “any information that allows us to improve the design of upcoming builds of Starship.” Doing so would be viewed as a “success,” stated Musk.
Even with the Starship’s explosion, SpaceX remains the supreme company in global spaceflight. The company’s Falcon 9 rockets have already made it to space 25 times this year. The most recent launch was concluded successfully on April 19.
Super Heavy Booster
Using 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster, the Starship rose slowly toward the sky at 9:33 a.m. ET this morning. One minute later, the spacecraft passed through a period of maximum aerodynamic pressure (max q).
This is the point when an aerospace vehicle’s atmospheric flight reaches the maximum difference between the fluid dynamics total pressure and the ambient static pressure. The max q is one of the crucial milestones for the launch of any rocket.
Footage of the launch caught the moment several of the engines on the Super Heavy booster stage failed. This caused the rocket to plummet in a corkscrew path toward the Earth. During the company’s livestream of the launch, John Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer, stated, “This does not appear to be a nominal situation.”
Congratulations
SpaceX guaranteed the launch would have “excitement” and they lived up to their promise. Musk offered his congratulations to the SpaceX team on Twitter after the launch and explosion. He added the flight taught them “a lot for [the] next test launch in a few months.”
NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, posted his congratulations on Twitter.
Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward.
Changes in the Future
The data gathered from the launch will help the company incorporate changes in future Starship flight tests. SpaceX’s team is thankful the explosion didn’t happen on the launchpad. If it had it would have resulted in extensive repairs.
Moreover, the explosion raised questions about whether or not Space will have the Starship ready to serve as a lunar lander for the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis III mission. Astronauts are due to set down near the moon’s south pole. Of course, the Starship will need to have a series of successful launches in order for this to happen. It will also need to bring up enough propellant so that it can get to the lunar orbit where the NASA crew will board it to go down to the moon.
However, it is not the first time a plan of SpaceX’s didn’t go as planned. The company has been capable of learning from its mistakes fast and creating new successes fast. Many are certain the company will be successful and be able to send the astronauts to the moon sooner than later.
by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
The New York Times: Live Updates: SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Explodes After Launch
CNN: SpaceX’s uncrewed Starship explodes on launch attempt
Wikipedia: Max q
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Oliver Hine‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Ron Frazier‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
