[ad_1]
Now we know why the latest version of SpaceX Spatialship The prototype caught fire last week.
The stainless steel vehicle, known as SN11 (“Serial No. 11”), was launched on a test flight last Tuesday (March 30) from SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas, near the village of Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast.
The SN11 climbed to a maximum altitude of 10 km (6.2 miles) as expected, and the 165-foot-high (50 meters) craft also checked a number of boxes on the way down. But SN11 didn’t stick its landing, instead exploding in a huge fireball – because of a plumbing problem, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon musk announced today (April 5).
Video: Watch SpaceX’s Starship SN11 launch on a test flight
“The climb phase, transition to horizontal and control during free fall were good. A (relatively) small CH4 leak caused a fire on engine 2 and a fried portion of the avionics, causing it to start. difficult when attempting to land in a CH4 turbopump. until Sunday, ” Musk said via Twitter today.
CH4 is the methane, the propellant of SpaceX’s powerful next-generation Raptor engine. And ‘hard starting’ refers to ignition when there is too much fuel in the combustion chamber and therefore the pressure is too high – not a good thing for any engine.
SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and goods to the Moon, Mars and other distant destinations. The transport system consists of two parts, both of which will be fully reusable: the Starship spacecraft and a giant first-stage thruster called Super Heavy.
Starship and Super Heavy will be powered by Raptors – six for the latest Starship and around 30 for the massive booster, Musk said. SN11 sported three Raptors, just like each of its three predecessors, SN8, SN9 and SN10, which launched on 6-mile-high test flights in December, February and early March, respectively.
All four flights were broadly similar, with the prototypes performing well until the very end. SN10 even landed in one piece, in fact, but exploded about eight minutes later.
SpaceX will continue to try to get the right landing. The company has already built the next Starship prototype, known as the SN15, and it is expected to take off soon. (Yes, SpaceX is moving directly from SN11 to SN15.)
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link