Last Saturday, November 18, SpaceX carried out the second flight test of Starship, which caused a new explosion of the gigantic rocket. As a result, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will conduct an investigation, similar to the one that occurred after the first flight.
What you need to know:
The FAA will oversee the accident investigation conducted by @SpaceX to ensure that SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved accident investigation plan and other regulatory requirements.
The FAA in the post on X
There were no reports of injuries or damage to public property as a result of the flight, the FAA added in another post.
It’s surprising to imagine that this second investigation and subsequent permitting process would take so long, considering how many things went right on Saturday. For example, the Super Heavy’s 33 engines successfully ignited during ignition, and the booster successfully separated from the top of the spacecraft as expected.
The Starship’s six Raptor engines burned for an extended period, lifting the spacecraft to a maximum altitude of 91 miles (148 kilometers), according to telemetry provided by SpaceX during the launch livestream. During the flight on April 20, the spacecraft reached just 39 km above the ground. SpaceX celebrated Saturday’s flight test as a success.
“Honestly, it was an incredibly successful day, even though there was a rapid unscheduled disassembly of both the Super Heavy booster and the spacecraft,” said Kate Tice, SpaceX’s head of quality engineering, during the broadcast in direct. “It’s great. We got a lot of data and this will help us improve for our next flight.”
It is unclear when the next flight will take place. That will depend on the outcome of the investigation and how many adjustments SpaceX needs to make before the FAA authorizes Starship’s launch again.
Investigation of the first test of the spaceship
The FAA also oversaw the investigation that followed the first test of Starship, launched from Starbase on April 20. During that flight, the vehicle faced several problems, such as the failure of several of the 33 Raptor engines in its first stage and the planned non-separation of its two stages: the Super Heavy propellant and the upper part of the Starship rocket. As a result, SpaceX ordered the detonation of the fallen vehicle, which occurred four minutes after launch.
The launch also damaged some Starbase infrastructure, creating a crater beneath the facility’s orbital launch pad and sending shards of concrete and other debris into the surrounding area.
Although the investigation into this accident was closed by the FAA on September 8, other regulatory requirements still had to be met before Starship could fly again. The agency finally granted a launch permit on November 15 after completing a safety review and environmental assessment.
The post SpaceX: FAA will investigate new Starship explosion appeared first on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
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