SpaceX's latest Starship SN11, which made its test flight last week, suffered the same fate as its predecessors. However, the circumstances surrounding its own explosion were mysterious, as thick fog and malfunctioning cameras obscured the details.
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For this reason, Elon Musk wanted to provide some additional information about the incident. As he announced in a Twitter post on Monday, the explosion was the result of a fuel leak.
"A (relatively) small CH4 leak led to a fire in engine 2 and burned part of the avionics, thus causing difficulty in the landing attempt," he wrote.
Starship SN11 lifted off from the company's development center in Texas on March 30 in zero visibility. At first, everything went smoothly, as the vehicle climbed to about 10 kilometers above the ground and then returned to Earth. After performing the standard maneuver in preparation for its soft landing, the onboard cameras froze during SpaceX's live stream.
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Other remotely operated live-streaming cameras showing the landing up close captured an orange glow in the fog, followed by a storm of debris that was blown into the area around the landing pad.
Two previous prototypes, SN8 and SN9, also exploded due to rough landings. SN10 managed to land, but then exploded on the landing pad a few minutes later. Starship SN11 appears to be the first to explode just before touching down.
So far, none of the Starship landing attempts have been successful, as all of the spacecraft have been destroyed. However, we can be optimistic that future attempts will go better.
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SpaceX will move forward with SN15, which reportedly incorporates several upgrades. Musk is quite excited that he chose not to launch SN12, SN13, and SN14.
SN15 is already assembled and is being prepared for testing ahead of its debut. The hope is that one of the upcoming prototypes will not only survive the landing, but allow the company to move forward with its efforts for the first orbital flight by June.
Musk says he certainly doesn't expect a repeat of the critical leak that led to last week's anomaly.
Source: cnet
