The tenth prototype of the launcher (SN10) with three Raptor engines took off from their launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas to an altitude of about ten kilometers, performed a rollover maneuver and then returned to the launch facility, where it exploded after a few minutes due to a methane leak
They say ice cream a third time. After two failures in landing a prototype of STARSHIP - SpaceX's spacecraft that is supposed to fly humans to Mars, yesterday's launch was successful - partially.
The tenth prototype of the launcher (SN10) with three Raptor engines took off from their launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas to an altitude of about ten kilometers, performed a rollover maneuver and then returned to the launch facility.
As with the previous test flights, the SN10 successfully launched, peaked, and verified the control fins and aerodynamic surfaces. But unlike the previous tests, SN10 was able to slow down enough and keep itself upright to make a soft landing. However, a few minutes later the prototype exploded apparently due to a methane leak. SpaceX considers this a success.
As you may recall, the SN8 prototype crashed while attempting to land at the same location on December 23, 2020. A similar fate befell SN9 on February 2.
After much anticipation following the two failures, March 3 was chosen as the earliest date for a launch attempt. Initially, Elon Musk and the Boca Chica teams had hoped to launch at nine in the morning local time, but the launch was canceled. The launch shutdown occurred almost immediately after the engines ignited as the automatic safety systems kicked in.
Musk tweeted a short time later to explain that the thrust of the engines was limited, and an increase in thrust capacity and additional refueling were needed for a re-flight attempt today."
After a few hours of preparation, the launch took place at 15:14 local time (00:15 on March 4 Israel time). The flight began when the SN10 ignited all three of its Raptor engines and took off smoothly. The ascent proceeded without incident and was broadcast live by SpaceX, NASA SpaceFlight and others from multiple perspectives (exterior, interior, spacecraft body and UAV).
About 2 minutes and 13 seconds into the flight, one of the Raptor's other engines shut down and began to flex noticeably - designed to test their thrust capabilities until eventually three minutes and 45 seconds after launch the other engine shut down.
At 4m19s, the last Raptor engine shut down and the prototype began its "belly flop" maneuver. After descending for about a minute and a half using only its maneuvering surfaces, two of the Raptor's engines reignited at 5m45s and the prototype flipped over and appeared to hover above the ground, eventually landing on its feet on the ground in a soft landing just over six minutes after launch.
Unfortunately, the ending was not successful. About eight minutes after landing - or 14m27s after launch, the prototype suddenly exploded on the landing pad, apparently as a result of a methane leak. According to the company, this suggests that there are still things that need to be fixed in the next prototypes before orbital flight can be carried out.
SpaceX also says that the goals of the experiments have been achieved - the ability to climb to the planned height, a rollover maneuver and now also a soft landing. The company is also satisfied with the pace of the launches, once every five weeks, which allows them to learn from the failures and build on the successes quickly.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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Already towed the 11th prototype therefore the launch
It's amazing how much resonance Elon Musk creates in the world and on so many levels...
It is enough to read only part of his biography to understand that his spaceship will also work in the end and change the world
The past does not teach the future, but his biography does
https://geniuses.club/genius/elon-musk
In my opinion, it may give a good indication that the guy will continue to be extremely successful (unless he goes crazy like Howard Hughes...)
By the way, who knows how much each test flight like this costs? How much do all the changes and updates to the different parts cost from trial to trial?
And here's an analysis by Scott Manley, which is always worth following, and he uses materials from other third parties, which are also worth following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF9mdMI1qxM
As a lesson from the less successful landing of the previous model, in which one of the two engines that were turned on for the alignment and the final landing failed to ignite, which brought the spacecraft to a crash landing on its side, the three engines were now turned on (contrary to what was written in the news) and performed the alignment maneuver before landing together. At this point two of the engines were turned off and the spacecraft made an almost perfect landing on one engine. Since this engine is not exactly under the middle of the spacecraft it landed a bit diagonally and the legs that were spread before landing absorbed most of the impact of the landing
so what happened? After all, in the past SpaceX managed to successfully land models 5 and 6 using one engine, which is not located in the center. My guess is that now, when they were attached to the body of these large stabilizers, one of them hit the ground and started the leak, and the burning that you see after landing, which eventually led to the explosion.
In short, the landing legs need to be improved, something that was in the design anyway, and perhaps shorten the stabilizers a little and reduce the chance of colliding with the ground, even if the spacecraft lands slightly diagonally.
On the way is another model SN11, which is very similar to its predecessors in the series, and immediately after it model SN15, which contains quite a lot of changes and updates. They decided to cancel the intermediate models, because of the success of SN8.
and how they arrived