'Mars, here we come': Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship explodes on impact
Wednesday, 9 December 2020
The US space and aerospace company SpaceX’s Starship rocket began a high-altitude flight at 11.45 am on Thursday (New Zealand time), and managed to perform the desired “landing flip manoeuvre” before exploding once it returned to Earth.
After launch, the full-scale, stainless steel model, 50 metres tall and 9 metres in diameter, soared over the Gulf of Mexico.
After about five minutes, it flipped sideways as planned and descended in a free-fall back to the southeastern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.
The Raptor engines reignited for braking and the rocket tilted back upright. When it touched down, however, the rocketship became engulfed in flames and ruptured, parts scattering.
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After the explosion, SpaceX chief executive, Elon Musk, tweeted: “Mars, here we come!!”
The Silicon Valley superstar hopes versions of the Starship will one day take humans to other planets, in particular Mars. The vessel began that journey with a trip meant to reach 12.5 kilometres above Boca Chica, Texas.
Musk called it a “successful ascent'' and said the body flaps precisely guided the rocket to the landing point. The fuel tank pressure was low, however, when the engines reignited for touchdown, which caused Starship to come down too fast.
“But we got all the data we needed!” he tweeted.
Despite the vessel’s seeming destruction, on-site personnel also appeared happy with the result. One person commented: “Incredible work, team. Nice work.”
Text, added as a graphic to the livestream of the event, had the message: “Awesome test. Congrats Starship team!”
Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who founded the Blue Origin rocket company, also offered swift congratulations.
“Anybody who knows how hard this stuff is is impressed by today's Starship test.”
The entire flight, as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards, lasted six minutes and 42 seconds. SpaceX broadcast the sunset demo live on its website; repeated delays over the past week heightened the excitement among space fans
On Thursday, the second attempt to launch was called off just 2 minutes and 6 seconds before the planned liftoff.
A voice on the video feed was heard saying: “Hold, hold, hold on countdown.”
On Wednesday, the first test was stalled when Starship's system abandoned the launch just one second before liftoff.
The spacecraft looked set for takeoff until the last possible moment, when onboard systems detected an error then initiated the auto-abort procedure.
The prototype rocket needs to be able to launch and land upright to allow for successful voyages between planets.
SpaceX claims the “landing flip manoeuvre… would be a first for a vehicle of this size”.
Last month Musk gave the rocket a one in three chance of remaining in one piece.
Two lower, shorter SpaceX test flights earlier this year from Boca Chica, Texas, a quiet coastal village before SpaceX moved in, used more rudimentary versions of Starship.
Essentially cylindrical cans and single Raptor engines, these early vehicles reached altitudes of 150 metres. An even earlier model, the short and squat Starhopper, made a tiny tethered hop in 2019, followed by two increasingly higher climbs.
Starship is actually the upper stage of Musk's envisioned moon, and Mars-ships. It will launch atop a mega booster still in development known as the Super Heavy. The entire vehicle will tower 120 metres, 9.4 metres taller than NASA's Saturn V rocket that hurled men to the moon a half-century ago.
SpaceX intends to use Starship to put massive satellites into orbit around Earth, besides delivering people and cargo to the moon and Mars.
Earlier this year, SpaceX was one of three prime contractors chosen by NASA to develop lunar landers capable of getting astronauts on the moon by 2024.
Right before Thursday’s launch, NASA announced the 18 US astronauts who will train for the Artemis moon-landing program.
While accepting an award in Berlin last week, Musk said he's “highly confident” of a human flight to Mars in six years, “if we get lucky, maybe four years.'' But Musk is the first to admit his timelines can be overly optimistic.
- Stuff with AP