The Starship test flight from SpaceX encountered failure on Tuesday evening which made it the third consecutive failure for this next-generation rocket system. The rocket launched from the Boca Chica facility in Texas performed successfully until the flight began which generated optimism after the two previous failures during the year.
The Starship system consists of a reusable upper-stage spacecraft known as the Ship and the massive first-stage booster which SpaceX calls Super Heavy. The system stands more than 120 meters tall, making it the largest rocket ever constructed. The spacecraft encountered problems with attitude control after stage separation which led to orbital tumbling.
The Starship lost its attitude control system according to a SpaceX engineer who streamed the event live. The company labeled the incident as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” which represents its term for major system failures.
The mission accomplished major achievements by utilizing a recycled booster but the spacecraft experienced a malfunction during the flight. The rocket operated at full engine capacity until it experienced a system failure.
SpaceX has not revealed the precise reason behind the system failure. Dr. Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics explained that the ship entered orbit but lost control when it was in the coasting phase. The company lost contact with the Super Heavy booster which then crashed into the Gulf of Mexico during the flight.
The simulated satellite deployment was aborted by the spacecraft after the payload door failed to open. The spacecraft lost directional stability that caused the reentry breakup to occur.
SpaceX implements a “fail fast learn fast” approach to use these high-stakes tests as chances to speed up their learning process. The Falcon 9 remains the most reliable vehicle from SpaceX but multiple Starship failures demonstrate the challenging engineering hurdles that need to be overcome to establish the vehicle as a mission-ready spacecraft for Moon and Mars missions.
