The new version of the Starship booster had an issue on the pad.
Hopefully, they’ll figure it out quickly, and it won’t be too big a setback.
3 thoughts on “Oopsie”
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The new version of the Starship booster had an issue on the pad.
Hopefully, they’ll figure it out quickly, and it won’t be too big a setback.
Comments are closed.
Something that big won’t stand appreciable negative pressure. Surely a known problem where they were supposed to maintain positive pressure. The only question is whether it was something or somebody that went wrong.
Pictures from the other side show it was an overpressure event, as the entire side of the oxygen tank is blown (literally) outwards. It was during a gaseous nitrogen pressure test. The stage didn’t collapse because it’s supported by the downcomer structure, which is the size of a Falcon 9. Starship is not pressure supported.
I worry that Musk’s politics may have influenced some of his tech people to subtly sabotage the systems.