SpaceX’s Mars migration spacecraft Starship SN9 explodes during landing at the launch base in Boca Chica, Texas, on the 2nd (local time).▶ Click here to enlarge
Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX exploded again during the landing process.
SpaceX’s second test-launched starship prototype’SN9′ at the Boca Chica launch base in Texas at 2:25 pm on the same day succeeded in flying up to an altitude of about 10 km, but failed to land, according to Reuters and Bloomberg Communications. Reported on the day (local time).
Earlier, SpaceX’s starship prototype, SN8, also succeeded in reaching its highest height by flying for 6 minutes and 42 seconds during a test launch on December 9 last year, but it exploded during landing.
Regarding this explosion, SpaceX said, “Like the last December experiment, it looked very good and stable. We only need to make a little more adjustments to the landing. This is a test launch, and we set up this concept and launched the starship for the second time. I will.”
Then, SpaceX said, “The engineers are going to figure out what went wrong based on the data collected through this experiment,” and “We will return to another starship in the near future.”
The explosion of the unmanned aerial vehicle SN9 reaching the height of the 16th floor is believed to be due to an error in the process of landing on the ground using aerodynamic control after pointing the nose at the front of the aircraft downward.
SN9 stopped the engine immediately after reaching the highest point and attempted a’fuselage landing’ in which the body of the aircraft was still touching the ground, but it seems that a problem occurred while trying to re-ignite the recoil propulsion engine by raising the nose up again for the final landing. Reuters said.
Bloomberg analyzed that the second of the three Raptor engines on the SN9 may not have been properly ignited, which is responsible for slowing down for landing.
SN9 plunged into the ground and exploded with flames, and a third tense model,’SN10,’ was erected nearby, but it was not damaged.
Starship is a giant spacecraft that SpaceX is developing with the goal of human migration to Mars, and the entire 120-meter-long body is expected to travel between the moon and Mars carrying 100 humans and 100 tons of cargo.
In October of last year, Musk said that he was 80-90% confident that Starship would be ready for orbital flight this year.
SpaceX’s Mars migration spacecraft Starship SN9▶ Click here to enlarge
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