It made it to the ground, just not in one piece.
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SpaceX SN11 Experimental Test Vehicle
- Thread starter Grendal
- Start date
Nikxice
Active Member
Merlin engines typically perform like wizards. Raptors need tweaking to be tamed, lest they disembowel their victims.
Pretty cool 'braiding' on the exhaust plumes. Challah!
e-FTW
New electron smell
henderrj
Active Member
Sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought. A little remembrance from the past!Merlin engines typically perform like wizards. Raptors need tweaking to be tamed, lest they disembowel their victims.
e-FTW
New electron smell
Even more impressive position, big boom and raining rocket parts with one hitting the camera:
Ah interesting, didn't notice that at +:27 right you are.
The latter 2 look like they could be related to fuel in the skirt form engine shutdown, but it does look like there could be some additional stuff going on in the middle of the stack as well...
Thanks.
SpaceX crashes another Starship prototype
SpaceX launched its fourth Starship prototype in less than four months March 30, only to have the vehicle apparently crash once again.
spacenews.com
e-FTW
New electron smell
"People attempting to watch the launch from the southern tip of South Padre Island reported finding lightweight debris,"SpaceX crashes another Starship prototype
SpaceX launched its fourth Starship prototype in less than four months March 30, only to have the vehicle apparently crash once again.
Wow, that is less than ideal.
As long as no one was hurt by debris then SpaceX should weather the (ahem) fallout. The timing isn't good with the competitors pet politicians taking a shot at SpaceX just before this happened though.
Nikxice
Active Member
Lacking clear video evidence at the moment of SN11's RUD, even Scott Manley is left scratching his head about the cause. Scott does explain a couple of possible scenarios. Interestingly, his sources have told him that the Flight Termination System wasn't activated, yet I sensed some skepticism whereby he hasn't completely ruled it out.
The evidence says it was a full blown explosion. Scott makes some excellent conclusions on what evidence we should see in various alternative types of explosions. His skepticism that the FTS wasn't triggered makes sense based on the evidence. We'll see what SpaceX lets us know but it was definitely a full blown airborne explosion just after the engines fired for the landing flip. Hopefully SpaceX has a good idea or knows what went wrong.
petit_bateau
Active Member
It seems to me like the explosive disassembly must have occurred whilst the vehicle was more horizontal than vertical. At least that would account for the spacing of the engines vs the nosecone, with a disintegrating bit in the middle. Given the upwards and/or lateral trajectory of some of the debris as seen in the cameras I suspect that some explosive events took place in the air, but others on the ground. Just my 2euc
While the previous flights and crashes seemed par for the course for the innovation SpaceX is pushing, but this one somehow feels like a wasted opportunity, more due to hubris, lack of attention and a simple rush to get things moving to keep the launch cadence going. Just a gut feel.
For example, its not sure why they would press forward launching on a zero visibility day? I understand you get telemetry and that is the most important data, but a visual also adds a lot of value in an aftermath like this, by helping you reinforce your conclusions you make out of telemetry data. SpaceX has some of the smartest engineers, but this launch looks like was done in haste.
For example, its not sure why they would press forward launching on a zero visibility day? I understand you get telemetry and that is the most important data, but a visual also adds a lot of value in an aftermath like this, by helping you reinforce your conclusions you make out of telemetry data. SpaceX has some of the smartest engineers, but this launch looks like was done in haste.
For the public it is show. For SpaceX engineers those closeup visuals are additional data that can go with the telemetry. Sometimes visuals gives you valuable clues, when you lose telemetry.
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