"Going forward, we won't do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once":
A ground-based test of the Super Heavy rocket that is intended to boost a Starship upper stage into orbit ended in flames on Monday afternoon at SpaceX's launch site in South Texas. A fire burned in the vicinity of the pad, on and off, for more than an hour.
This is the first time SpaceX has tested a booster stage—this one bears the designation Booster 7—equipped with a full complement of 33 Raptor rocket engines. Monday's test was not intended to lead to a static fire test, during which the engines are briefly ignited, so seeing fire erupt from the aft end of the vehicle at 4:20 pm CT local time was a surprise.
The methane-fueled Raptor engine has a complicated sequence of events that must unfold precisely in order for it to ignite, and SpaceX was testing the "spin start" portion of this ignition sequence when the anomaly occurred. Something must have caused methane propellant to ignite, with the ambient oxygen in the air serving as an oxidizer, inside the vehicle.
[...] Internally, SpaceX had been targeting a potential orbital launch attempt for the Super Heavy rocket and Starship upper stage in August, which would boost the upper stage to an altitude of about 250 km before the vehicle returned to Earth. The company has yet to get a formal launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration for this test.
[...] If Booster 7 cannot be salvaged, it would not be the end of the world. SpaceX has established an assembly line in South Texas where boosters and Starship vehicles can be built in a matter of months. Several are presently in various stages of work. The potential loss of 33 Raptor engines, however, would be more significant.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Thursday July 14 2022, @03:44AM (9 children)
Brief 2:17 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Yiw7_JTXY [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @04:58AM
Big Badda Boom?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @05:09AM
That's a good compilation.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Thursday July 14 2022, @05:56AM (5 children)
When Musk gets it to work reliably, and he will, that's gonna be one hell of a heavy lifter. I'm assuming he's gonna land it back like the others. 10 launches out of 33 engines would be a lot of payload placed in orbit or the moon or deep space.
The best part is its a side project for him. This man toys with twitter faking he's gonna buy the company outright. He's got the money to do it too. The disparity in wealth we have reached makes the roaring 20's look like a frat party.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @10:32AM (3 children)
It should be around to Saturn V performance to LEO, but with in orbit refuelling it could deliver its payload out as far as the asteroid belt, maybe even Jupiter, assuming a one-way trip.
The first stack is slated to land on the ocean and the upper stage might not even survive reentry. It will probably take a couple of tries to land a first stage intact and they might go through half a dozen or more second stages before landing one, so I give it a year after the first flight before they can reuse a full stack. After that their only limit is pad time.
Considering that rockets become more reliable the more often they fly and the required launch rate to finish Starlink by the FCC's deadline, Starship should become the most reliable rocket ever flown within five or six years, depending on when Falcon 9 retires.
Their goal is to get 10 flights between maintenance cycles, 100 between overhauls, and a lifetime limit of 1000 flights. If they get gas-and-go working then such a rocket might last about a year*. Even if they only achieve that with the first stage it still implies an obscene amount of launch capacity.
Starship is how Musk is going to colonize Mars, and Starlink is how he'll pay for it, because even he isn't rich enough for that.
Twitter is what happens when he gets bored waiting for government paperwork to be filed. It's very important for all of us that it never happens again. What would we do if he ever ran for public office?
*10 flights per launch day gives us 100 launch days alternating with 90 maintenance days and 9 three week overhauls, for 379 days total. Maintenance and overhaul times are guestimates.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday July 15 2022, @12:50PM (2 children)
Musk's rockets keep blowing up, yet you predict that "Starship should become the most reliable rocket ever flown". Sounds like the "Free beer tomorrow" sign that you see in some pubs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 15 2022, @01:49PM
It's almost like they are known for their rapid iterative design process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ [youtube.com]
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/elon-musk-says-spacex-driving-toward-orbital-starship-flight-in-2020/ [arstechnica.com]
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Saturday July 16 2022, @05:04AM
He lands the prior iteration reliably on floating platforms at sea. Why would you think he won't do it again?
You don't build new rocket systems without blowing some up during testing. That's the whole point.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday July 15 2022, @12:59PM
Twitter is also a side project for Musk. His main project is still to become the King of Mars, and he is now getting a bit desperate, realising that he will probably die before the tech is up to creating his colony there. Starlink, SpaceX contracts, Tesla, Solar City, are all making the money that he wants to consumate his Mars megalomania, although even those incomes will not provide enough.
(Score: 2) by corey on Friday July 15 2022, @12:00AM
Thanks. I started watching the link in the article. After scrolling through looking for the test, I found a comment that linked to the actual ignition. It went bang and the commentator teenagers kept saying “woooow” like they were stoned looking at a Kaleidoscope.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @03:50AM (5 children)
The explosion is well worth watching. Things got scorched, bits of debris were blown around, there was some minor damage around the launch pad, and B7 was taken back to the Highbay for inspection, but they are expecting to try again in a week assuming nothing serious is wrong with the rocket.
Confirmed casualties include a 100' length of flexible duct, some panel doors and an electric welder. A shed may have lost a door and I've seen reports that a generator burned.
Say what you will, but SpaceX doesn't do 'boring'.
(Score: 5, Funny) by coolgopher on Thursday July 14 2022, @05:29AM (2 children)
Well obviously, that's what the Boring Company [boringcompany.com] is for!
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @06:50AM (1 child)
Boring is good when it comes to launching space rockets. Who wants to ride in Elon large penis shape that might explode all over you?
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Nuke on Friday July 15 2022, @12:47PM
Musk fans. They would follow him into a gas chamber if he said it was a cool thing to do. Hopefully as many of them as possible will go with him to his Mars colony, if only he can get this thing to work.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Thursday July 14 2022, @07:56AM (1 child)
Given the size of the boom and the amount of flame that appeared, I'm surprised that the casualties are so low.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday July 14 2022, @02:21PM
Well, everything in the area is designed to withstand a much larger sustained explosion with every booster launch or static fire. So potential casualties are probably mostly limited to just the incidental stuff that's only temporarily in the area because they weren't planning an ignition.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @04:48AM
waaah waaah constantly plotting sexual acts
men are all sexual objects
and we know what they're thinking, every minute!
men forcing consenting women to recline on the cuddle puddle couch
men forcing consenting women to take an undisturbed light nap
the horror! the end of women's honour!
this is no way to treat women
the real men at Boeing
know how to treat women right
it was Musky mind control that made Justice Handmaiden go against her womb!
(Score: 4, Funny) by NotSanguine on Thursday July 14 2022, @05:11AM (2 children)
Why anyone was surprised that folks lit up at 4:20 is odd.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2022, @11:05AM
>> Something must have caused methane propellant to ignite, with the ambient oxygen in the air serving as an oxidizer, inside the vehicle.
If Elon was in the vicinity, I suspect we know what that "something" might have been. He should stick to LSD on test days.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday July 14 2022, @02:24PM
I do recall him mentioning at one point that 420, and I think 69, have kept showing up as significant numbers during the development process, completely unintentionally.