Posted on 03/05/2021 5:48:45 AM PST by Red Badger
SN10 on the padSpaceX
SpaceX has made a miraculous first landing of its Starship spacecraft, a momentous step forward in the company's ambitions to reach the Moon and Mars. The landmark test flight follows less successful attempts in which earlier Starship prototypes exploded on touchdown, demonstrating a groundbreaking landing technique unique for a vehicle of its size.
The 10th prototype of SpaceX's Starship in flight - SpaceX
SpaceX's Starship program has continued at a rapid rate, with the company progressing from the first prototype reveal in January 2019 to the sub-orbital test flights of prototypes eight and nine in December and February just gone. In both of those flights, Starship reached its target altitude of around 10 km (33,000 ft) but exploded in a fireball as it came down to land.
The landing sequence for Starship is different to the one used for SpaceX's smaller Falcon 9 rocket, which has been routinely landing on Earth and out at sea for several years now. The vehicle features three Raptor engines which shut down at altitude and transition the spacecraft to a horizontal "belly flop" orientation.
SN10 performs a belly flop maneuver SpaceX Here, Starship uses its four flaps to slow its descent and steer its way back to Earth rather than its engines, much like a skydiver uses their arms and legs. Before the flight of Starship SN8 in December, this maneuver had never been performed using a vehicle of this size.
When Starship approaches the pad, it uses two engines to return to an upright position and then a single engine for a landing burn, bringing it to a gentle touchdown. It was at this point that things fell apart for SN8 and SN9, both of which hit the landing pad at high velocity and promptly exploded in huge fireballs.
But "third time's a charm," as noted by the commentary team on the webcast for today's flight of SN10, with the spacecraft successfully touching and remaining upright thereafter. It appears the damage incurred during the landing was too much to bear for the spacecraft, however, causing it to explode on the pad some minutes after coming down to rest. But the successful soft landing, albeit short-lived, is still a massive moment for SpaceX and its plans for a fully reusable, interplanetary transport system.
Check out a replay of the test flight below.
VIDEO AT LINK..........................
Ping!.................
Problem may have been the makeshift landing struts that were used to soften impact. Some of them may have burned up or were damaged and didn’t deploy properly to absorb the impact.
They’re there to break and absorb the landing impact in leu of a properly designed landing gear.
Lots of trial and error going into these starship prototypes.
Back to the drawing board.
 |  |
Watched it live, was so amazing when it touched down, but you could tell it was leaning a bit. I wouldn’t put that much more hope into the next one, SN11 that’ll go up in a month or so. It’s the same design. They’re going to SN15 after 11, which is a pretty major upgrade.
Go SpaceX!
Maybe it was just me, but that whole video seemed to be nothing but special effects. It just didn’t look real.
It’s not called “Rocket Science” for nothing.
Go Musk, go!
It’s not called “Rocket Surgery” for nothing...........................
Truth be told, Elon Musk took Buck Rogers a bit too seriously. Anyone who has a life goal to take a one way trip to Mars is not wrapped too tight.
Never mind the drawing board...someone has a bent T-square.
It was an amazing test......
Gotta’ break some eggs to make an omelet.....
Or a warped slide rule. I remember using them in high school.
The reaction of The Everyday Astronaut was reprised in Scott Manley’s excellent video about this kaboom. The landing worked, but was too fast, there was clearly some malfunction as it made the final single-engine descent, and the catastrophic release of the remaining LOX caused most of the “hop” the rather large prototype made, with perhaps a little kick from the combustion of the oxygen itself.
SpaceX’s Starship SN10 Successfully Lands After Amazing Flight. Dismantles Itself Spectacularly.
456,962 views
Mar 4, 2021
Scott Manley
1.22M subscriber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF9mdMI1qxM
Wonder how they deal with the static electricity buildup on the airframe during free-fall? Is there a way to safely ground that voltage prior to touchdown when their might be some residual combustion potential?
Ever read Robert Heinlein’s “The Man Who Sold the Moon”?.............................
Edison:
We have discovered 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb!.................
I didn’t see any explosion in that video.......
That’s the first video I’ve seen that actually showed the explosion after the rocket landed.......thanks
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.