Fireball briefly engulfs SpaceX's huge Starship booster during test

Space.com ^ | 07/12/2022 | Mike Wall

[SeekAndFind]

SpaceX just lit a very big candle — by accident, it would seem.

A fireball erupted at the base of Booster 7 — a prototype of Super Heavy, the huge first stage for SpaceX's next-gen Starship deep-space transportation system — during a test Monday (July 11) at the company's Starbase facility in South Texas.

The blaze was unintentional, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter on Monday evening. 

"Yeah, actually not good. Team is assessing damage," Musk tweeted (opens in new tab). The fireball resulted when an "engine spin start test" did not go according to plan, he explained in another Twitter post (opens in new tab).

Holy moly. Well, that was unexpected!https://t.co/dUUqw7ojRv pic.twitter.com/7IGztPuE12July 11, 2022

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SpaceX is prepping Booster 7 for the first-ever Starship orbital test flight. That landmark mission could lift off in the next few months, if all goes according to plan (and if Booster 7 wasn't too badly damaged by Monday's events, which NASASpaceflight streamed live (opens in new tab)).

The Starship system consists of Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft called Starship. Both of these elements will be fully and rapidly reusable, potentially making Mars colonization and other ambitious exploration feats economically feasible, Musk has said. 

Starship is powered by SpaceX's brawny new Raptor engine — 33 for the booster and six for the upper-stage spacecraft. Booster 7 sports a full complement of Raptors. 

Related stories:

— Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars-colonizing transportation system
— Elon Musk says SpaceX could launch a Starship to the moon 'probably sooner' than 2024: report
— SpaceX launches Starship SN15 rocket and sticks the landing in high-altitude test flight

SpaceX has launched several upper-stage Starship prototypes on high-altitude test flights, even sticking the landing with one of them in May 2021. But the upcoming mission, which will send a Starship vehicle known as Ship 24 to orbit, will be the first-ever launch for a Super Heavy.

SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and cargo to the moon, Mars and other faraway destinations. NASA selected the system to be the first human lander for Artemis, the agency's moon exploration program. NASA aims to put astronauts down near the moon's south pole using Starship in 2025 or 2026.

Editor's note: This story originally characterized the Booster 7 fireball as an ordinary engine test, an interpretation largely based on a Monday tweet by Elon Musk that said as much. However, Musk deleted that tweet on Monday evening and then posted several others explaining that the fireball was unplanned and anomalous; the story was updated at 3:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday (July 12) with this new information.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There (opens in new tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).  

[algore]

I knew this chick who liked Fireball, she was like an 11 on the Crazy-Hot Scale

[BenLurkin]

“SpaceX Starship booster test ends with engine explosion”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjbjXTomxqI

If I ever need to go to the moon...I’m taking the train.

[G Larry]

My guess:

Oxidizer build up in the flame bucket pre-ignition, then when fuel is added at ignition, we get this result.

[doorgunner69]

Just a backfire.

We used to do that with bikes. Kill the engine, open the gas, turn the ignition back on. Fireball.

[DannyTN]

[algore]

“If I ever need to go to the moon...I’m taking the train.”

I would probably want to take an elevator, at least to a point

After that it would all be easy

[pfflier]

Sounds plausible. LOX coming in contact with any kind of hydrocarbon can do this. The catalyst can be an ignition source or even pressure.

The event appeared to be external of the booster, like you speculated, near the base ring or the flame bucket. Regardless, that booster is definitely going back to the shop for some rear end repairs.

[markman46]

it was a mixture of liquid o2 and methane they were doing a spin test of the engines and boom nice flame and scorched orbital launch mount legs. took spacex a long time to detank the booster, happened at 4:20 cdt and didn’t finish detanking until oh 10:00 ish cdt.

[Born to Conserve]

It was a spinup test for the rocket engine turbine pumps. Not uncommon for an unintentional ignition, except this was with 33 raptor 2 engines totaling twice the thrust of a Saturn V.

“No more Spinup tests of all 33 engines at the same time.”

[Ex gun maker.]

“Both of these elements will be fully and rapidly reusable, potentially making Mars colonization and other ambitious exploration feats economically feasible, “

Economically feasible?
Name me ANY known substance so valuable that the freight bill is worth it.
Explain how a distant colony utterly dependent on constant Earth resupply to stave off doom is beneficial to us.
Nice to be able to convince so many to support your personal fantasy but please do not try to claim it is going to benefit the majority of the world population.

There are several already know beneficial technologies that only require near-earth manufacture.
We cannot/have not even managed to create that relatively simple infrastructure. But Mars is somehow going to do more for us and happen sooner?
Not in this reality.

[Celtic Conservative]

And the ground team is going home for fresh underwear.

CC

[Macoozie]

“And the ground team is going home for fresh underwear.”

Now THAT is funny!

[Sirius Lee]

And the ground team is going home for fresh underwear.

Blazing Saddles.

[pfflier]

That’s a fair bet!!