SpaceX battled to blow up Starship rocket, raising safety concerns

3 years ago 2

ARTICLE AD BOX

During SpaceX’s inaugural Starship test flight, the company struggled to get the rocket to self-destruct immediately, raising safety concerns, the New York Times reports.

Launch providers like SpaceX are required to demonstrate the ability to quickly destroy their rockets to protect populated areas. It took Starship 40 seconds to respond to the self-destruct command.

While SpaceX CEO Elon Musk still deems the test flight a success, he alluded to the self-destruct delay during a Twitter audio chat on Saturday, 29 April 2023.

“Obviously not a complete success,” Musk said. “But still nonetheless successful.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be ready to fly again in a couple months,” he added.

Despite his positivity, the Federal Aviation Authority will want to investigate the delayed self-destruct.

Even a 40-second delay to a self-destruct command is concerning, especially for a “megarocket” on an experimental flight.

While it is likely that the rocket would have landed in the ocean had the self-destruct command failed completely, it is possible that it could have veered toward nearby populated areas.

SpaceX’s Starship — the largest rocket ever built — took off from Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, 20 April 2023.

Although the spacecraft made it through maximum aerodynamic pressure and the sound barrier, SpaceX ultimately self-destructed it when it failed to execute its second-stage separation manoeuvre.

“The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble,” SpaceX said.

“The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship.”