Today, the next flight tests of the prototype of the reusable Starship spacecraft took place. They proved to be a failure on several points at once. And if the problems during the online broadcast from Boca Chica can be forgiven, then the fourth consecutive loss of an aircraft is depressing.
In short: the prototype with the number SN11 took off, sequentially shutting down the engines, rose to an altitude of ten kilometers and performed a coup in the air. Then he floated "belly down" to an altitude of a thousand meters and re-started the engines. In general, up to this point, everything went as planned: we have already seen such maneuvers three times.
At the 05:49 mark after the launch, the video signal from the prototype spacecraft was interrupted, and then suspicious sounds were heard on the official broadcast. It is difficult to say exactly what was happening — because the announcer was still at a distance from the landing pad. Clearly distinguishable sounds of jet engines, a few small clicks or pops (as if dust or small fragments are scattered) and a powerful impact of metal on something hard and rigid.
After a few seconds of meaningful silence,John Insprucker, the host of the stream, confirmed that the aircraft was lost. According to him, " another exciting test of Starship is over." What is saddest, as John noted at the very end of the broadcast, all the data from SN11 is lost. How to understand this is not yet clear: either it will take a lot of time to establish the causes of the accident until the engineers restore the black boxes, or we just do not wait for a clear picture from these tests.
And the video was truly terrible, such a quality of streams SpaceX has not had for a long time. To begin with, the weather in Boca Chica deteriorated exactly an hour before the test flight, and the entire spaceport was covered with a thick fog. The situation is normal, the local climate is very changeable, and fog is not always a hindrance to launches, but their futuristic appearance has turned into a depressing one. The moment of the start could be determined by the end of the countdown and a faint glow in the distance.
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| Starship SN11. There is every reason to assume that this flame in the area of the turbopump of the near-left engine should not normally be present. |
| Source: ©SpaceX, YouTube |
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| Starship SN11. View from inside the liquid methane tank. |
| Source: ©SpaceX, YouTube |
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| View of the landing pad where the wreckage of Starship SN11 lies. |
| Source: ©Michael Baylor, Twitter |
Interestingly, this time the audience was pleased with the new camera, which is located inside the tank with liquefied methane (06: 21 on the official broadcast). As far as we can tell, SpaceX is showing the inside view of a refueled Starship for the firsttime . During the climb stage, the Raptor engines also showed quite disturbing symptoms . It is difficult to say whether this is a serious problem or not, but one of them during operation burst flames from the pipeline in the area of the combustion chamber and turbopump (especially a strong flash at around 06:14).
In addition to this, you can find fault with the color of the engine exhaust-it is similar to what happens with an excessively enriched fuel mixture. Although, maybe the effect is due to the fog, in which the flame shines so much. In any case, almost immediately the broadcast begins to be interrupted by black or frozen frames, there are some problems with communication. The situation becomes almost unbearable closer to the highest point of the trajectory. "Friezes" are getting longer, some cameras just don't have a signal.
Headphone warning!Our last views of #Starship #SN11 's flight, now with sound!
That's a big boom.
More on the @NASASpaceflight livestream: https://t.co/PbgTUl6KGY pic.twitter.com/3BZD3uOpIc
- Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) March 30, 2021
The video sequence ends at the moment of ignition of the engines for the braking pulse at an altitude of about a kilometer. The picture almost immediately freezes, what happens next is unclear. The NASASpacefligh t portal also broadcast, and from its camera installed near the launch pad. It shows how the fragments of Starship SN11 fly past: obviously, it fell out of the"field of view". According to one of the presenters, the debris even touched the camera, and one of them (a ball-shaped smoking object in the foreground) flew very close.
Apparently, after these tests, the development program of the reusable Starship spacecraft is waiting for serious changes. Of the four jumps to a height of 10 kilometers, none was completely successful. Almost all the prototypes for various reasons crashed during landing, and one was able to sit vertically, but the speed of contact with the platform was too high. It exploded due to the damage it sustained a few minutes later. Yes, the lion's share of the flight plan was carried out every time, and SpaceX specialists received a lot of useful data, but there is still no full-fledged success.
The next flight prototype is theSN15, numbers 12 to 14 are omitted. It is planned to make a large number of changes. Among other things, they will review the mechanism for suspending the engines to the power structure of the ship. Perhaps this will eliminate all problems with the thrust during landing and the formation of flames in flight. It remains to wait and hope for success. The team's goal in Boca Chica is the first orbital flight in the summer.
