He Eighth Starship test flight It is scheduled for this Friday. It has only been a month and a half since the flight of flight 7 suffered a spectacular explosion In full ascent, but Spacex already knows exactly what happened, and has taken measures to prevent it from happening again.
Closed research: Starship 33 exploded for excess vibrations
On January 16, 2025, the larger rocket in the world He took off again from Starbase, southeast of Texas. It was the first time that Spacex tested a series of improvements in the second stage, known as Starship Block 2.
The Super Heavy propeller, 71 meters high, fulfilled all its objectives: it turned on its 33 engines, took off and accelerated to separate from the Starship ship, about 65 km altitude. One of the 13 engines that had to turn on for the return maneuver did not turn on due to a failure in the ignition system. However, the propeller successfully detached the upper ring and returned, with two meters less high and about nine tons less weight, to the launch platform, where he maneuvered (now, with 13 engines) to be captured by the Tower arms.
As for the Starship ship, 52 meters high, lit its six engines successfully and separated from the super heavy following the expected trajectory … until, two minutes later, Spacex detected a flash In the rear of the ship, which houses non -pressurized systems between the liquid oxygen tank and the thermal shield. And two minutes later, another flash. It was one Fugging of propellants which ended up triggering a fire.
The fire remained, leading to the progressive disconnection of the engines until the total loss of communication with the ship at 8 minutes and 20 seconds of flight. Starship 33 disintegrated in the descent phase, three minutes after the loss of contact, Near the Turkish and Caicos Islandssoutheast of the Bahamas. The ship disintegrated before self -destruction protocols were activated, but according to Spacex, the entire material fell within the planned impact area, without significant environmental damage.
The cause of the failure? A “stronger harmonic resonance phenomenon”. Excessive vibrations that submitted the propulsion system to excessive stress. The accumulation of flammable gases exceeded the capacity of the ship to purge them, which ended up causing liquid oxygen leaks.
Flight 8 will be a repetition of 7, with some improvements to avoid another explosion
Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not officially closed the investigation of flight 7, it is expected to do so in time to approve flight 8 this Friday, February 28, at 22:30 UTC. Despite the loss of the ship, flight 7 served to improve Starship design and perfect the rocket that promises to be total and quickly reusable.
Spacex did a test of long -term static ignition With the Starship 34 to study the problem of vibrations. The company has planned design changes in the rocket to reduce the risk of leaks and improve the ventilation of the back of the ship. Next versions of Starship will have a new generation of engines, the Raptor 3, which occupy a lower volume and eliminate many of the ducts susceptible to leaks of current Raptor 2.
As repetition of flight 7, the eighth Starship test launch will include another attempt to capture the super heavy and everything that could not be tested on the previous flight: the first Starship load deployment (four wooden Starlink satellit simulators) In a suborbital trajectory, the first redempted of a raptor engine in space, to validate future orbital maneuvers, and the Validation of multiple improvements in the reentry.
Ship 34 will be the Second Starship Block 2which still has to demonstrate most of its improvements. This new version of the ship includes a redesign of the front flaps that reduces exposure to heat and improves aerodynamics in the reentry. It also has larger frontal deposits that increase its ability to store propelants by 25%.
The reentry and the Starship landing maneuver is the most delicate phase of the flight, due to the temperature that the ship reaches. Spacex has strategically eliminated some ceramic thermal tiles to evaluate the vulnerabilities of the ship. On the eighth flight, it will try alternative metal materials, some of them with active refrigeration, a system that the company had ruled out and now is on the table again. New radars will also be tested to improve the accuracy of the landing and capture of the ship, something that will luckily occur on flight 9.
Image | Spacex