Starship SN 10 NOT DTS! Is Now DTS

[Charlie Foxtrot]

Nice flight!  Even better landing!


Well.... It's DTS now.  Blew up about 5 minutes after landing. There was a fire after landing that looked to have extinguished itself.  But it blew.

Flames were seen coming from the aft skirt before landing, kept on after what was perhaps a harder than expected landing. Ship seemed to be leaning slightly.  The explosion lifted it up by about 100 feet. A methane leak in one of the engines is likely the culprit. 

However - a 95-97%? successful test. With a pretty much bullseye landing to boot. 

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

 

[Snaggletooth]

 

[alphafb552]

Looks like the landing legs failed to deploy

Anyway the good news is: SN10 first starship to fly twice!

 

[Bsquared]

Um, can I get a refund on my ticket?

 

[IStream]

Boca Chica is a harsh mistress.

 

[atoyot]

1 hour ago, Snaggletooth said:

That looks not unlike some "experiments" out in the back yard. Maybe bigger.

 

[Navig8tor]

Looks like back to the drawing board on seals? Hasn’t that been a problem before, I seem to recall a Big Bang resulting in catastrophic loss of life and a long drawn out inquiry................hopefully history doesn’t get a chance to repeat.

 

[Black Sox]

Looks like back to the drawing board on seals? Hasn’t that been a problem before, I seem to recall a Big Bang resulting in catastrophic loss of life and a long drawn out inquiry................hopefully history doesn’t get a chance to repeat.

Sheesh, even I could have told them that monkeys are better than seals. Apart from the water difficulty, there’s the whole opposable thumbs thing.

 

[Marinatrix447]

The jump in progress launch SN9 to 10 is IMO impressive.... I'd be delighted to be involved and working on the program....

I have no doubt they will crack it!  Not sure I'd opt for the first human astronaut flight test however.... beta's and all that.... if I were 20 years younger... maybe!

 

[Charlie Foxtrot]

New SpaceX acronym: 

Catastrophic Rapid Unplanned Disassembly (CRUD)

That looks not unlike some "experiments" out in the back yard. Maybe bigger.

Does kinda look like that Stainless BBQ that I launched when I left the propane on a wee bit too long trying to get that damn back burner to light. 

 

[peragrin]

The jump in progress launch SN9 to 10 is IMO impressive.... I'd be delighted to be involved and working on the program....

I have no doubt they will crack it!  Not sure I'd opt for the first human astronaut flight test however.... beta's and all that.... if I were 20 years younger... maybe!

Remember prior to humans there will be dozen plus launches and recovery and relaunches to fill out the starlink network. 300 sats a launch.  It is how spacec is going to maintain the 12000 sats they want.  There are 10's of millions of people in the usa alone in rural areas a without good internet.  Every 10 million customers for starlink is 1.2 billion annually flowing into space x to continue developments.

Starship will succeed.  And then keep on succeeding. 

 

[Snaggletooth]

Starship will succeed.  And then keep on succeeding. 

Our you Elong Muske?

 

[Navig8tor]

Remember prior to humans there will be dozen plus launches and recovery and relaunches to fill out the starlink network. 300 sats a launch.  It is how spacec is going to maintain the 12000 sats they want.  There are 10's of millions of people in the usa alone in rural areas a without good internet.  Every 10 million customers for starlink is 1.2 billion annually flowing into space x to continue developments.

Starship will succeed.  And then keep on succeeding. 

Two things Space-junk is a thing and.....Just think, they could actually improve the National IQ if they refused to carry Fox, Brietbart, Qanon and the God squad channels.

I know, I’ll just grab my coat on the way out. h34r:

 

[Charlie Foxtrot]

And...... We’re back!

The fire was well established before landing, starting at the same time the two engines shut down for landing.  Only 3 of the 6 landing legs locked into place. SN10 ended sitting on a partially crushed after skirt. The fire probably weakened oxy bulkhead,  causing the explosion and second flight   

 

[Windward]

Does it count as another launch?

 

[Team Terminal]

I really see the development from this test.  After landing it turned into an instant kit of many pieces. Easier to pack & distribute on Amazon.

 

[Charlie Foxtrot]

Does it count as another launch?

Let's see....

As with all Starship test flights:

1. It was falling horizontally "with style".
   
2. It was having problems with the engines.
   
3. It ended in a huge fireball.
   

Yep, it's an official test flight. 

 

[Charlie Foxtrot]

Best discussion I've seen about the SN 10a and b flights.