SpaceX launches Starship Flight 9 to space in historic reuse of giant megarocket (video)

[Admin]

SpaceX's Starship megarocket launched on its ninth-ever test flight today (May 27), an important mission that aimed to break a two-flight upper-stage failure streak.

SpaceX launches Starship Flight 9 to space in historic reuse of giant megarocket (video) : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Well, they did manage to get to upper stage engine shutoff without a leak causing an explosion.

But, while coasting in space, the upper stage did develop a leak that caused the stage to spin/tumble, which still caused the destruction of the ship and prevented getting data on the Raptor engine restart in space and all of the data on the heat shield during reentry and the flight dynamics with the new flap design and location.

So, in my opinion, a disappointment that SpaceX seems to have taken a step backward on the upper stage between flight 6 and 7, with repeated leaks causing failures that had not previously occurred on fights 4, 5 and 6.

I am wondering what is going on with these leaks. Did the manufacturing process change in some way between the ships for flights 6 and 7?

 

[contrarian]

Is SpaceX's Starship methane fuel a problem with all these failures?

Google AI tell us that "Methane, when mixed with liquid oxygen, can be prone to leaks and fires, especially if the system isn't designed robustly." No doubt they are trying a "robust" system, but the results are not looking too good.

Perhaps they should be looking at Rocketdyne's engines or equivalent. The Saturn V, using their F-1s, never had a launch failure in 13 launches, and it was burning RP-1 and LOX.

Don't know enough about this to make a call.

 

[Classical Motion]

Every flight and every failure instructs them how to re-tune. Once they find the proper tune, they will sing. He has several good tunes now. With other songs.

There is persistence(Edison) and there is genius(Tesla), having both is a real advantage.

Lots of failure means lots of learning.

 

[contrarian]

Lots of failure means lots of learning.

The Saturn V had no failures on its learning curve.

Just now reading that the second and third stages of the Saturn V burned H2 and LOX.

The Starship burns methane and LOX on all stages, and is apparently on a steep learning curve. The last three failures are largely attributed to fuel leaks.