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White and in bottle? Milk. Two Consecutive starships that exploit In the same flight phase, practically in the same minute, in similar ways? Anyone would say that there was a common cause, but it was not so.
Context. Spacex has shed light on the explosive loss of Starship During his eighth test flight on March 6. After successfully capturing the Super Heavy propeller, all expectations were set on the ship, which in the previous launch had failed during the ascent phase.
After a successful separation and before reaching the necessary altitude to turn off, Spacex detected a flash near one of the central engines of the ship, followed by an “energy event” that made the engine disappear. Shortly after, two other central engines and one of the outer vacuum engines went out, which caused the ship to lose control nine and a half minutes after takeoff. The Starship 34 He disintegrated About the Caribbean.
They were not the vibrations. After two consecutive explosions, everyone assumed that the problem had been the same. On flight 7, Starship 33 was lost eight minutes and 20 seconds after takeoff Because of stronger vibrations than expected, that had caused leaks of liquid oxygen and a fire In a non -pressurized area of the lower part of the ship, which Spacex calls the “stern attic”.
But it has not been so. “Although the ruling manifested himself at a point similar to that of the seventh flight, it is worth noting that they are clearly different,” Spacex wrote in a recent statement. “The mitigations implemented after flight 7 to solve the problems of harmonic response and flammability of the ship operated by design as planned,” added the company. What arose was a new problem.
What happened on flight 8. According to the Spacex statement, the most likely cause of the loss of the ship during the eighth flight was “a hardware failure in one of the central raptor engines of the upper stage of the rocket, which resulted in a mixture and ignition not deliberate of propellents.”
In essence, a engine component failed, causing a fuel leak and mixture (liquid methane) with oxidant (liquid oxygen). The consequent explosion destroyed the engine and committed the survival of the ship. Both problems originated in the lower part or stern of Starship, but the failure of flight 7 occurred in the “attic”, and that of flight 8 in the “basement”, the motor bay.
All ready for flight 9. To address this new ruling for the ninth flight, Spacex has implemented reinforcements in key starship 35 joints, a new nitrogen purge system and improvements in the propellant drainage system. Later, he plans to introduce the new generation of Raptor 3 engines, with a complete redesign that addresses this type of problem.
If there are no more delays, The ninth flight will take off this Tuesday, May 27 At 18:30, local time in Starbase (1:30 on Wednesday in Spain). It will be The first to reuse a super heavy propeller; Specifically, Booster 14, which flew in the seventh mission. The ship, on the other hand, will try again the objectives not achieved on flights 7 and 8, such as the deployment of eight Starlink satellit simulators and multiple reentry experiments.
Image | Spacex
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