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posted by martyb on Friday April 03 2020, @09:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the three-steps-forward-one-step-backward dept.

SpaceX loses its third Starship prototype during a cryogenic test

This week, SpaceX workers in South Texas loaded the third full-scale Starship prototype—SN3—onto a test stand ​at the company's Boca Chica launch site. On Wednesday night, they pressure-tested the vehicle at ambient temperature with nitrogen, and SN3 performed fine.

On Thursday night SpaceX began cryo-testing the vehicle, which means it was loaded again with nitrogen, but this time it was chilled to flight-like temperatures and put under flight-like pressures. Unfortunately, a little after 2am local time, SN3 failed and began to collapse on top of itself. It appeared as if the vehicle may have lost pressurization and become top-heavy.

Shortly after the failure, SpaceX's founder and chief engineer, Elon Musk, said on Twitter, "We will see what data review says in the morning, but this may have been a test configuration mistake." A testing issue would be good in the sense that it means the vehicle itself performed well, and the problem can be more easily addressed.

A YouTube Video is included in the article at no extra cost.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Boca Chica, Texas: Scheduled Road and Beach Closures for SpaceX Testing [Updates: 2] 35 comments

[20200420_144755 UTC: Update: According to this comment to the thread at NASASpaceflight, the RollLift (which would transport SN4 to the pad) has not finished being assembled. Looks like it will still be a while before testing commences. --martyb]

[20200420_162536 UTC: Corrected timelines and costs; see linked comment. --martyb]

NASASpaceflight has continuous updates of activities at the Boca Chica SpaceX site with many pics and videos, too. The last time I checked, SN4 (SpaceX's 4th Starship prototype: Serial Number 4) is nearing completion of construction and is soon to be transported to the testing platform. Historically, next would be pressurization tests, e.g. with liquid nitrogen, to see if the rocket can handle the temperatures and pressures. Prior testing failures have been... impressive. Should all go well with these tests, next up would be testing of SN4 with liquid methane and liquid oxygen. If successful, static fire tests with the rocket tethered and, ultimately, with a powered hop for a very limited duration and distance.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has set a goal of building a new Starship rocket each week. SN4 has been under construction for less than a month. By comparison, the SLS (Space Launch System) has been under development for many years, has cost billions of dollars per year, and has never (not even once) been launched. (Please see this comment for clarification.)

Here are the dates and times of upcoming road and beach closures (and alternates) as announced by Cameron County, Texas coinciding with planned testing by SpaceX:

  • April 20, 2020: 0800-0900 (Primary Date)
  • April 23, 2020: 0900-1000 (Primary Date)
  • April 26, 2020: 0900-1159 (Primary Date)
  • April 27, 2020: 0900-1159 (Alternate Date)
  • April 28, 2020: 0900-1159 (Alternate Date)

(All times are Central Daylight Time; add 5 hours to get the corresponding date/time in UTC .)

Previously:
(2020-04-18) SpaceX Offers NASA a Custom Moon Freighter
(2020-04-03) SpaceX Loses its Third Starship Prototype During a Cryogenic Test
(2020-04-03) SpaceX Almost Ready to Start Testing SN3 -- The Third Starship Prototype
(2020-04-01) SpaceX Releases a Payload User's Guide for its Starship Rocket
(2020-03-10) Another Starship Prototype Explodes, but SpaceX Isn't Stopping


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday April 03 2020, @10:02PM (5 children)

    by Hartree (195) on Friday April 03 2020, @10:02PM (#978887)

    Rockets are hard.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 03 2020, @10:46PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday April 03 2020, @10:46PM (#978892) Journal

      I bet we won't see the next 150m hop until after astronauts are sent to ISS (supposed to happen in May).

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2020, @02:01AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2020, @02:01AM (#978934)

      If only they'd contracted it out to north Korea!

    • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Saturday April 04 2020, @03:55PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Saturday April 04 2020, @03:55PM (#979047)

      Well, this one isn't , now.

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday April 04 2020, @06:22PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 04 2020, @06:22PM (#979090) Journal

      Rockets are hard

      Elon should say "Rockets are difficult".

      Both the shape and hardness of rockets are similar to a part of male anatomy for the same basic reason. To push through resistance. I suppose this observation would be applicable to submarines also.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday April 06 2020, @02:01PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday April 06 2020, @02:01PM (#979639) Journal

      SpaceX's Elon Musk reveals next Starship's Raptor engines, explains latest failure [teslarati.com]

      Particularly in light of Elon Musk’s statement that operator error and a bad test design caused Starship SN3’s failure, the ship’s April 3rd performance was quite impressive. That SN3 remained vertical for several seconds after its aft tank crumpled and likely lost pressure – despite carrying a load equivalent to a fully-loaded Boeing 747 passenger jet – suggests that the vehicle’s structure is extremely robust.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 03 2020, @10:06PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 03 2020, @10:06PM (#978888)

    The rocket got coronavirus because it wasn't wearing a mask.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2020, @12:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 04 2020, @12:42AM (#978920)

    Big Badda-boom!

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