SpaceX cancels third static firing attempt from spacecraft minutes before ignition

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Perhaps just about two minutes into the ignition, SpaceX Starship’s prototype SN9 canceled its third triple-Raptor static firing attempt late in the testing window on January 12.

Already extended from 5 p.m. CST (UTC-6) to 8 p.m. CST, SpaceX only really started cleaning up the test facilities near the original end of the window and started loading its second spacecraft. fully assembled with liquid oxygen and methane propellant around 7 or 7:30 a.m. At 7:58 p.m., a local sheriff sounded a police siren to alert local residents or workers of an impending test – necessary in the event of an explosion (“overpressure event”), which could shatter windows and present a general danger. .

Now a well-worn and familiar process for unofficial Starship followers, the Siren serves (albeit imprecisely) as a rough T-10 minute marker for any type of dangerous test. Hoping to rectify two previous unsuccessful static firing attempts, Starship SN9 may have done so within 2-3 minutes of a second ignition before an unknown issue caused SpaceX ground controllers or the SpaceX ground controllers to be disrupted. Starship itself.

Raising its head in the form of a large simultaneous vent releasing the pressure from the Starship SN9’s methane and oxygen tanks, abortions are an equally familiar event to those who have followed for a year or two. Spacecraft may have made some dramatic leaps in 2020, but the program and the prototypes it is currently producing are still relatively immature and, in other words, not exactly polished and polished end products.

Boca Chica began delivering its first single weld steel rings in December 2019. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagale)
Twelve months later, the Starship SN8 flew for almost seven minutes without a problem, eventually exploding on impact just 10 to 20 seconds before a planned landing. SN9 rode on the pad less than two weeks after that. (SpaceX)

In 2020 alone, SpaceX destroyed the Starship SN1 during pressure testing, knocked down (and destroyed) SN3 with a faulty test design, saw SN4 explode violently, and ultimately stole the Starships SN5, SN6, and SN8 – but not before multiple false starts, abortions and repairs. Through this hardware-rich trial and error process, SpaceX managed to transition from completing its first one-piece steel ring to the near-successful launch of the fully assembled 12.5 km (7.8 mi) Starship SN8 ) in Twelve month.

While that speed has been a huge boon to SpaceX, the company appears to have gotten more cautious in recent months with the introduction of the first full-height spacecraft – each likely representing a more substantial investment and thus warranting additional risk aversion. At the same time, Starship is clearly an extraordinarily complex launch vehicle, and this complexity only increases as the program progresses, producing increasingly complex prototypes that require testing of equal complexity.

Starship SN8 spent nearly two months on the launch pad, gradually completing several crucial tests before SpaceX finally cleared the rocket to attempt the program’s first high-altitude launch on December 11. Since January 12, Starship SN9 has been on the site for three weeks. Meanwhile, Starship SN10 is pretty much ready to start testing, and SN11 could be ready a few weeks later.

Starship SN9’s next (fourth) static fire attempt is now expected no earlier than Wednesday, January 13, although that could change quickly depending on the severity of the issue that caused Tuesday’s abandonment.

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