Spaceship – The spaceship, which Elon Musk says will one day bring people to Mars, attempts another day to run its eighth test flight.
The space trip, scheduled for Monday night, was to make up a large portion of the seventh flight released in January. In that test, the Starship's mammoth booster, or rocket's bottom, returned to normal to the launchpad, but the upper-stage spaceship collapsed into the Caribbean, with some debris landing in the Turkish and Caicos Islands.
However, problems with the second phase spacecraft have postponed Monday's launch attempt from the company's South Texas Launchpad. During the live stream, SpaceX commentators did not provide details on why the launch was aborted.
The company has not yet announced when it will try again.
What is a spaceship?
The spacecraft rocket system is the largest ever built. It is 403 feet tall and is nearly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty on the pedestal.
It has the most engines ever in the Rocket Booster. The super heavy booster is powered by SpaceX's 33 Raptor engine. When these engines lift the spacecraft out of the launchpad, they generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle.
The top, also known as a spaceship or ship for short, looks like a shiny rocket from a 1950s science fiction film, but is made from stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage heading into orbit, and ultimately can transport people to the moon and even Mars.
In six tests before the seventh flight, SpaceX demonstrated that the rocket's basic design works and that the spacecraft can return to Earth almost unharmed. Next year, SpaceX is trying to “certainly” improve “more or less” and prove its other capabilities. The company could potentially receive up to 25 flights this year from the Federal Aviation Administration.
What was the problem on the last flight?
The first part of the launch went smoothly, with all 33 engines lifting the rocket towards space. The boosters were also properly separated, with the six engines of the second stage spacecraft igniting and pushing them up. But something went wrong, and air traffic through the Caribbean had to be detoured and delayed around falling debris.
About two minutes after the top flight, a flash occurred near the back of a spacecraft near one of the engines, SpaceX said. The company calls the area the “attic.”
SpaceX said the sensor recorded an increase in pressure, indicating leakage.
Two minutes later, another flash followed, causing a fire in the attic, shutting down everything except one of the engines. Telemetry from the spacecraft ended 8 minutes and 20 seconds after the lift-off.
SpaceX said the possible cause was stronger rhythmic vibrations than expected. The vibration caused a leak of propellant that could not be fully vented from the attic, leading to fire.
SpaceX said its analysis revealed that the self-destructing system exploded the rocket a few minutes later.
What did SpaceX change to fix the issue from the last flight?
The company said the feed line that carries the propellant to the engine has been changed to reduce vibrations. SpaceX also changed the engine's propellant temperature and thrust level to avoid repeated leaks.
For this flight rocket, SpaceX also added a system that purges the area of ​​propellant to reduce the chances of a fire.
The FAA oversaw SpaceX's investigation into what went wrong during its seventh test flight and issued a launch license on its eighth flight on Friday.
What else will happen during this flight?
While in space, Starship will test a new system that is somewhat similar to the Pez Candy Discenser. It captures four dummy satellites that are similar in size and shape to spacecraft deployed for SpaceX's Starlink Internet Services. The dummy satellites burn into the atmosphere of the Indian Ocean.
The flight also includes tests aimed at improving the upper level's ability to re-enter Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
The rocket stage pivots vertically and simulates a landing on the water.
SpaceX will also try another catch of Starship booster.
When can Starship send people into space?
NASA plans to use a version of the spacecraft to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027.
But if the Trump administration revamps its lunar program or shifts attention to Mars, its mission could be delayed or cancelled.
SpaceX must demonstrate the high reliability of the spacecraft before it is aired.
What else is happening with SpaceX?
The company continues to launch Falcon 9 rockets from Florida and California every few days. But it also has some recent glitches with its launcher.
During February's launch, the Falcon 9's upper stage failed to run a regular engine burn to ensure that the rocket's body would splash into the sea. Instead, it remained in orbit. The air resistance gradually began to drop, and the stage reentered in Europe 18 days later. No one was injured or injured, but the rocket fragment appears to have landed in Poland.
SpaceX ran into another problem on Sunday night when the Falcon 9 booster landed nicely on an Atlantic barge, but then fell over.
SpaceX reported that “an out-of-ruling fire at the rear end of the rocket caused one of the booster's landing legs to be damaged, which turned over.”
