SpaceX Starship Spacecraft

2025: Explosion 8 minutes after launch

On January 16, 2024, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, carried out the seventh test launch of the reusable superheavy Starship launch vehicle, designed to deliver cargo and people to Earth orbits, as well as to the Moon and Mars. The tests ended in failure, and a few minutes after launch, the ship exploded.

The launch was carried out from the Starbase test cosmodrome in South Texas. The 123-meter device successfully started, after which the first stage of Super Heavy was separated, which returned to base. However, then problems arose: after about eight minutes of flight, SpaceX lost contact with the upper stage of Starship, known as Ship. The spacecraft exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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Фото: space.com

We really lost all communication with the ship - in fact, this suggests that we had an anomaly with the upper stage, "said SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot.

It is noted that for the failed test, SpaceX created a larger version of Starship. She, in particular, received fuel tanks of increased size. During the launch, there were over 4,700 tons of fuel and oxidizer on board. In addition, the device carried the first test payload in the form of satellite simulators. The flight program involved performing a number of tests, including restarting the engines in a vacuum. SpaceX is engaged in identifying the causes of the accident, but almost immediately after the incident, the first version of what happened was released.

According to preliminary data, during the flight there was an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the fireproof partition of the ship's engine, - Musk commented on the unsuccessful launch.[1]

2024

Elon Musk is going to replace planes with spaceships

In mid-November 2024, SpaceX founder and CEO Ilon Musk spoke about plans to use his reusable superheavy Starship launch vehicles instead of aircraft to carry passengers. It is assumed that thanks to this, the flight time from the United States to China will be reduced from 15 hours to about 40 minutes.

The idea, according to the Daily Mail, is to use spacecraft for regular flights between global megacities. It is assumed that after launch, the Starship rocket will enter orbit, after which it will fly to its destination parallel to Earth. It is noted that Starship will be able to reach a maximum speed of up to 27,000 km/h. In this case, the flight from London to New York will take about 30 minutes, from New York to Shanghai - 39 minutes, and from Zurich to Sydney - about 50 minutes.

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Фото: dailymail.co.uk

SpaceX will be able to take up to 1,000 passengers on board. They will have to deal with overloads during takeoff and landing, and in low gravity conditions during flight, you will need to keep your seat belts fastened. The cost of tickets will be very high, but the exact figures as of November 2024 have not been disclosed.

Musk expressed the idea of ​ ​ using Starship to organize flights under the Earth-Earth scheme in 2017. It is said that with the advent of US President-elect Donald Trump, the proposed concept could become a reality. In particular, it is noted that SpaceX expects to receive the appropriate permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration.

In addition, Musk said SpaceX will send its Starship rocket to Mars in 2026, although it will be an unmanned mission. And in 2028, Starship is expected to deliver people to the Red Planet for the first time.^[2]

Failure of the third test flight

On March 14, 2024, SpaceX announced the loss of the Starship prototype during the third test flight.

2023: Starship with Super Heavy first stage explodes in launch attempt

SpaceX's first-stage Super Heavy Starship spacecraft exploded while attempting to launch in April 2023

2022: Launch vehicle explosion immediately after takeoff

On July 11, 2022, a Super Heavy booster for the company-developed Starship Elona Musk SpaceX spacecraft exploded on the launch pad during a test launch. The tests took place American in the state. Texas

By July 12, 2022, it was not reported what caused the explosion, which turned the base of the rocket into a fireball with plumes of thick smoke. True, at the same time the accelerator remained standing, fixed on the test site. The incident occurred during a static fire test at a site in Texas. The booster, equipped with 33 Raptor engines, was supposed to be used in an unmanned test flight planned by SpaceX for the second half of 2022.

Another Elon Musk rocket exploded immediately after takeoff

{{quote 'Yes, not really good. The team assesses the damage... In the future, we will not conduct launch tests with all 33 engines at the same time! The company's specialists will understand the reasons for what happened and take measures so that this does not happen on the next rocket, the assembly of which is already underway, "said SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk ((Elon Musk). }} SpaceX, during a failed December 2020 test of a Starship rocket that ended in an explosion, violated the terms of a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Starship was designed to fly to the moon and Mars. An SN8 rocket exploded on December 10, 2020 during a test in Texas, failing to land correctly. It is not known whether the FAA will study the accident on July 11, 2022, as SpaceX refused to adhere to the conditions for launching spacecraft.

In early 2022, Musk announced that the super-heavy launch vehicle would be ready for launch in the summer of 2021, but delays in the creation of the rocket and the passage of procedures for licensing by the Boca Chica cosmodrome regulator, from which Starship is launched, forced to postpone the launch date to July 2022.^[3]

2021

First successful landing

In early May 2021, the prototype Starship ship first successfully landed after testing in Texas.

During these tests, the device rose to a height of 10 km in a few minutes, then made a successful vertical landing on the launch site.

It was the fifth Starship flight test to explode on several previous test flights, either during or after landing.

Another spacecraft explosion

The prototype of the American Starship manned spacecraft for missions on Moon Mars and Texas on March 3, 2021, made its first successful landing at the test site in. However, within minutes of landing, it exploded. The probable cause is an excess of rocket fuel.

The ship was able to rise to an altitude of about 10 km. Then the device turned around and landed on the platform. A few minutes later, the ship caught fire.

The first attempt to conduct flight tests of the Starship SN10 (the tenth serial test vehicle) was interrupted 0.1 seconds before takeoff. According to Ars Technica, SpaceX stopped the launch after the on-board computer received data that the engine was developing too much thrust.

SpaceX spacecraft for missions to the moon and Mars exploded again

A few hours later, repeated tests began. The spacecraft flew to a height of 10 thousand meters, made a U-turn, made all the necessary maneuvers, successfully landed and exploded eight minutes later.

SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said that "there was a successful soft touch of the landing pad."

Starship SN10 landed unharmed!, - wrote Musk in his Twitter blog.

In response to one of the comments, he added that the SpaceX team has done a great job and is not going to stop. Elon Musk also expressed the hope that in the future Starship flights that have become familiar will be a real measure of success.

According to John Inspruker, by early March 2021, SpaceX has another prototype ship. It will be ready for another test flight "in the near future."

Elon Musk is confident that his rocket will be able to land people on Mars as early as 2026. In 2021, SpaceX expects to conduct a full-fledged orbital launch of Starship with an unmanned launch vehicle.^[4]

Ship explosion

In February 2021, the prototype of the American SpaceX Starship spacecraft, designed for future flights to Mars, exploded during landing during tests at a training ground in Texas.

In December 2020, similar tests of the previous SN8 prototype also ended in a landing explosion.

2020: Explosions of SN3 and SN4 ships

The tests of the third prototype of the Starship SN4 spacecraft  from SpaceX at the Boca Chica training ground in southern Texas, which took place on May 29, 2020, ended in failure. The explosion occurred during testing of the Raptor methane engine.

According to Spaceflight Now, the explosion occurred two minutes after the launch of the Raptor methane engine. As a result, the rocket was completely destroyed, and its wreckage scattered throughout the launch pad. Information about the victims of the incident by May 31, 2020 was not received.

Another Starship prototype exploded during fire tests

On April 3, 2020, the prototype burst during the pressurization of the prototype with liquid nitrogen, as a result, Starship SN3 ruptured. In late February , another SpaceX prototype burst under the same circumstances. In November 2019 , Starship Mk1 exploded during tests at the same test site.

With SN4, however, the situation was more successful: at the end of April 2020, the last prototype withstood pressure testing, and in early May it successfully passed the first fire tests with one Raptor engine. However, during the new tests, the rocket exploded: Space News reports that the explosion occurred after a successful burn and shutdown of the engines.

SpaceX, which was created by Elon Musk, is developing a transport system that consists of a reusable Starship and a Super Heavy launch vehicle. They are planned to allow delivery to Earth orbits, as well as to the moon and Mars, satellites, cargo and astronauts.

On May 29, 2020, the US authorities issued a license to conduct test suborbital flights of the Starship spacecraft. The license provides for the possibility of multiple flights. The main limitation is the impossibility of entering orbit.^[5]

The Starship ship with a length of 50 m and a diameter of 9 m is made of alloy steel, its declared carrying capacity is 150 tons. 

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