Per editor: Du Yu
According to CCTV news, on April 20, local time, the US Space Exploration Technology Corporation conducted the second unmanned flight test of the "Starship" heavy launch vehicle in Texas, USA. Three minutes after launch, the rocket unplanned disintegrated, followed by an explosion that forced the mission to be aborted.
According to China Securities News, SpaceX said that after the Starship launch failed, it was the launch team that artificially detonated it.
Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, said the company would summarize what it learned in this test and conduct "the next test launch in a few months." SpaceX said the team will review the data and work toward the next launch attempt.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he looks forward to what SpaceX learned from the test and the next flight test.
But according to physicists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Starship rocket flew at a maximum altitude of only 39 kilometers before the mission failed, which is far from 100 kilometers from the internationally recognized space boundary.
According to CaiLian News, SpaceX boss Musk has been trying to lower expectations before the starship's first flight, especially emphasizing the concern that the rocket engine with super thrust may blow up the launch pad. Powered by 33 Raptor engines, the Starship will have more than 16 million pounds (about 7,257 tons) of thrust, about twice as much as the current record-holder Saturn 5 rocket.
The smoke rising from the launch site can also feel the coercion of the rocket thrust.
Close-up of densely packed rocket boosters.
(Image source: Live video)
It is worth mentioning that after the rocket explosion, the SpaceX employees on the scene did not show frustration, and Musk, who supervised the battle, also squeezed out a smile in front of the camera, at least his "rocket don't blow up the launcher" expectation was achieved.
Despite the unsuccessful launch on the 20th, Musk still tweeted in response: "Congratulations to the SpaceX team for an exciting test launch of the Starship!" A lot was learned for the next test launch in a few months. ”
While SpaceX openly emphasized that "the success of today's test lies in what we learned," the timeline left for scientists to achieve stable interstellar delivery remains tight.
NASA has selected a starship for Artemis 3's manned lunar mission, and if the project is not canceled, the earliest theoretical launch time is early 2025. Before that, SpaceX first needs to prove that the starship has the ability to stably deliver Earth's orbit. Even more challenging is how to prove that the starship has the ability to fly steadily to the moon.
Due to the weight of the spacecraft, SpaceX needs to distribute fuel to the spacecraft as it orbits the Earth — it could take more than a dozen launches to meet the needs of a Starship spacecraft crossing a distance of 380,000 kilometers from the Earth and the Moon.
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Cover image source: video screenshot
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