The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is demanding that Elon Musk’s SpaceX investigate the accident during the final test flight of the Starship rocket. The spaceship exploded in the air and pieces of it fell to the ground. The agency has suspended further flights until the issue is resolved.
On Thursday, January 16, the seventh test flight of the world’s largest rocket took place. The Starship/Super Heavy launch system lifted off at 23:37 CET from the base near Boca Chica, Texas. After the separation of the upper stage, the Super Heavy module returned to Earth and was successfully picked up by the mechanical arms of the launch tower for the second time in the history of the tests.
But the spacecraft’s upper stage stopped transmitting data at an altitude of 146 kilometers and SpaceX said it was considered “lost”. There was an explosion and its fragments fell spectacularly to the surface of the Earth. Fragments of the spacecraft fell, among other things, on the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory in Central America in the Bahamas archipelago. Elon Musk and SpaceX, which he owns, announced in a statement that a fire broke out in the engine compartment of the ship due to a fuel leak, which was the cause of the explosion. Ship 33, which is a new version of the upper stage of the rocket, differed from previous ships in that respect. the fuel system has only been modified.
“FAA Requests Investigation”
The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees civil aviation in the US, published a statement on its website about the seventh test. “The FAA is requesting that SpaceX conduct an investigation into the Starship crash…. There have been no reports of injuries to the public, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and relevant authorities to confirm reports of damage to public property in the Turks and Caicos Islands,” the statement said. will be in it.
As the agency explained, the investigation “is intended to increase public safety, determine the root causes of this incident and determine corrective actions to prevent its recurrence.”
The FAA must approve SpaceX’s final report on this investigation and any corrective actions before sending additional spacecraft into space. “The return to flight was based on the FAA’s determination that no system, process or procedure related to the crash would affect public safety,” the statement said.
The agency also reported that as a result of the explosion, several dozen planes were forced to change their route.
Elon Musk and SpaceX guarantee cooperation
SpaceX said on social media that it will conduct a thorough investigation with the FAA and implement “corrective actions to improve future test flights.” Elon Musk also said on the X platform that the problem will be solved. “In addition to the double tightness test, we will add a fire protection system and possibly increase the ventilation area. There is currently no indication that the next launch will take place later than next month,” he wrote. However, everything depends on the opinion of the FFA, which can give SpaceX a license for further Starship test flights.
A Starship missile disintegrated on the air of Cable News Network Inc. All rights reserved 2024
The biggest rocket in the world
Starship is a two-stage megarocket with a height of about 123 meters and a diameter of 9 meters. Its first stage is the Super Heavy booster (i.e. the carrier module) and the second stage is the spacecraft. Both stages are powered by Raptor rocket engines, which use liquid methane as a fuel and liquid oxygen as an oxidant. The rocket is designed to carry the largest load into orbit and greatly reduce the cost of such transport. The first four test flights of the missile also ended in ship explosions either immediately after takeoff or during landing attempts. In time, starships would play a key role in the colonization of the Moon and later Mars. A large enough park of such rockets can be used to provide constant transport communication with the Moon.
The Starship rocket during its launch on ThursdayPAP/EPA/MICHAEL GONZALEZ
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