It’s a disaster that launching a rocket into space has never been easy, but one of the most difficult aspects of building a rocket is launching it without destroying critical infrastructure like the launch pad because a rocket needs a lot of power and energy.
Pushing itself off the ground resists Earth’s gravity and eventually propels it into outer space, so even with the most advanced technology and experts working on the project, mistakes are bound to happen, as we’ve discussed before. is discussed. Seen during orbital effort. The Starship launch was attempted months earlier.
As the rocket exploded and the launch pad was severely damaged, but Elon Musk and SpaceX are moving forward with launch events and are speeding to prepare Starship and its launch pad for another launch attempt in a few months. are bringing are bringing.
Just listen to this roar this time everyone was well aware of how the first orbital launch of the starship began and the first test took place on 20 April 2023 and started very well until a problem occurred a few minutes into the flight. The rocket did not fire after takeoff and others that did shut down in mid-air, so of the 33 Raptor engines that were supposed to fire, only 27 were able to fire.
If the launch wasn’t a complete success, but the explosion provided enough excitement and excitement for on-site spectators and people who had a chance to see the event anywhere, you’ll probably still find footage of the explosion, but the rocket not about. For SpaceX to catch fire and reach the platform is also a great achievement. Remember that the Raptor 2 engine is not your average engine.
It is a complex full flow stage combustion engine that uses a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid methane as its fuel which makes it one of the most efficient and powerful engines ever built. With a thruster weight ratio of over 200. Until Starship was launched, the Raptor engine was tested several times through static fire tests and separate testing of Starship’s upper stage and Booster 7.
So you can be sure that this is a very reliable engine. SpaceX has designed the rocket in a way that makes it extremely flexible. It can perform over a wide range of altitudes and speeds which means it can be used by all types of missions. Remember that this rocket will not only take astronauts to the moon. But Musk has tagged Starship as SpaceX’s Mars-bound rocket, and they’re building it with that goal in mind.
It’s also durable enough to withstand the harsh conditions in space during long missions, but the powerful and durable engine also comes with some issues SpaceX is already seeing with the rocket. Blasting the engine until it explodes and trying to deal with the effects.
Launch Have you seen any pictures floating around online? The void or the launch pad was really small and it should be as good as it gets within six to eight weeks, but if the same thing happens a second time, SpaceX is going to have to spend some serious money as they upgrade their launch pads.
Every time Starship is launched, Elon Musk has already explained that he miscalculated and underestimated how much pressure the pad was going to have before launch, so he reinforced it with water called steel plates before launch. did not, which they were already making. He has a very good idea that SpaceX is going to prepare the steel plate before the next launch.
In fact they are already testing it, can you imagine we are standing there a few days back with so much power that steel plate is throbbing when it was tested against the power of a Raptor engine, SpaceX posted a short 20-second clip about the test and by the time the smoke cleared the plate was in one piece, which is an impressive feat considering the power of the rocket but is possible using just one steel plate on the launch pad.
The current plan is to use at least two large steel plates to cushion the effects of the 33 Raptor engines igniting, but is this going to be enough to prevent additional damage when this rocket is launched? The standard is to build some sort of flame trench, which is sometimes a V-shaped duct to help redirect the energy and gas away from the launch pad and used by the rocket itself. But it is not surprising to use it in conjunction with the deluge system.
In fact this is the same system used by SpaceX to launch their other rockets, but it seems they are not going to follow this path for Starship, they considered a flame retardant. Abandoned at Starbase in 2020 but Musk later tweeted that the company didn’t want to have any flame diverters in Bokeh, but while this may have been a mistake, it seems Musk isn’t doubting his decision.
That’s why steel plates have to be fitted. The absence of the flame trench and water deluge system is substantial, but it’s not the only change SpaceX is implementing months away from the next launch. That was a test of a new Raptor 2 engine. Now imagine how powerful it would be when all 33 are firing at the same time. The Raptor 2 engine is powerful by any standard and one of the most advanced rocket engines in the world, but there is always room for improvement for SpaceX.
SpaceX fixed a lot of engine problems and also removed unnecessary parts from the engine, which probably reduced its weight by about 200 kg. And it would make the engine more compact and faster to manufacture than either the Raptor 2 or Raptor 1 engines while retaining the essential bits.
The rocket was recently ignited and has already reached 269 tons of thrust, which means it has 18 more thrust than the Raptor 2. The launch pad, so the weight of the engine is reduced, and SpaceX can quickly Only be able to make more engines.
At a lower cost and could potentially bring the cost down to a thousand dollars per ton to completely undercut the cost of space travel. And while Musk was testing the power and reliability of his new engine, his latest prototype Ship 25 was being prepared for SpaceX’s launch. PAD hasn’t chosen which prototype to use for the second launch attempt, but Ship 25 is the most likely choice.
The other two prototypes, Ships 26 and 27, are not ready as they have not been fitted with the heat shields and aerodynamic flaps that would allow the upper stage to safely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere just before the completion of Ship 29. would allow , There’s one segment left and Ship 28 is also under development, so you probably won’t see them testing for Ship 25 anytime soon.
The first 6 engines go through a static fire test and if it goes well, SpaceX will fire it several times and eventually prepare it for the next launch attempt and a rocket is being prepared for the second test run, the company is going to fly it. A termination system has been provided to ensure that the Ship 24 issues do not appear in this prototype.
It looked as if the rocket exploded almost immediately, but to those working behind the scenes, this was not the case once the system was activated. It took about a minute for the tanks to explode and explode but there is no information yet if they will actually follow this up with the vehicle destruction tests or if the problem can be easily solved in some other way that SpaceX has to do before the other.