The Starship 36 has flown through the air, in the worst sense. Spacex was preparing a second static ignition trial when a brutal explosion made all the windows in the metropolitan area of Brownsville, Texas.
What we know. On Thursday at 23:00, local time in Starbase, the ship that Spacex was preparing for Starship’s tenth flight exploded during the fuel load in a Massey’s test bench, which is how the test zone is known. It has not been to regret victims, since the area was clear for the test. But when the smoke column disappeared, Ship 36, which was going to fly at the end of the month, was no longer.
It was seen and not seen. The NSF cameras They captured a sudden flash, followed by a large detonation and another giant just below. Since the ship exploded in the 10 minutes before the ignition test, Spacex had already loaded liquid oxygen and was starting to load liquid methane. The fuel deposits were approximately 10%, which hopefully reduced the scope of the damage.
What we don’t know. Although the destruction of the ship is taken for granted, damage to the land infrastructure of Massey’s will not be clear until day. The worst news would be for the facilities to have been useless, which would considerably delay the starship 37 tests, which is already assembled and in the engine integration phase.
He Spacex statement It only clarifies that the company is “actively working to ensure the test site” and that “there are no risks for residents of surrounding communities.”
The program touches background. This is one of the most important setbacks for the Martian rocket of Spacex, which has touched the bottom after three consecutive launches of the Starship Block 2, the new version of the ship. Of the six second generation starship built:
- The first exploded during flight 7 for vibrations related to an unforeseen harmonic response in the lower zone of engines bay
- The second exploded during flight 8 for an unforeseen mixture of propellant during the ascent phase, which caused the explosion of an engine
- The third exploded during flight 9 for a leak that made him lose control of attitude during the suborbital trajectory, disintegrating himself in the reentry
- The fourth has exploited on land during the propellant load prior to a static ignition test in the test bench
There are two Starship Block 2 to validate before Spacex passes to the third generation starship. The company has not yet been able to prove the satellite deployment due to explosions or, on flight 9, a failure in the door of the load bay. It also has delay with a series of demonstrations related to the thermal shield of the ship, which prevents the complete reuse of the rocket.
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