The SN10’s touchdown was more crunchy than soft.
SpaceX
On March 3, SpaceX finally seemed to make a soft landing of the latest prototype of their next generation Mars rocket. However, a few minutes later, the SN10, as the third prototype to do a test flight at high altitude was known, made a second unscheduled flight after it exploded on the airstrip.
Elon Musk explained on Tuesday that the landing was a little bit more crunchy than soft.
“10 m / s (22 miles per hour) impact on crushed legs and part of the skirt,” tweeted the founder of SpaceX.
The SN10 engine had a low thrust due (probably) to the partial intake of helium from the fuel collection tank. Impact of 10m / s of crushed legs and part of the skirt. Several working fixes for SN11.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2021
A closer look at the SN10’s landing reveals that it came a little warm and fast. He even seemed to sway slightly when he touched the ground.
In the live webcast of the mission, there is a long silent pause (almost a full minute) by SpaceX commentator John Insprucker after landing while SN10 sat on the pad, slightly tilted to one side and a little on fire, apparently unsure if that would happen like to tip over and take a long, permanent nap.
But SN10 did not tip over and Insprucker finally declared a successful soft landing.
However, the consequence of the crushed landing legs and skirt appears to have been some of the SN10 fuel ending up where it shouldn’t have been a few minutes later, causing it to explode, just like its two predecessor prototypes.
SN8 and SN9 both came to very difficult landings. The SN10 almost hit the nail on the head, but Musk said a fuel problem led to a low thrust on the landing flare and that crushing leg touchdown.
“Several fixes in progress for SN11,” tweeted Musk.
Meanwhile, the SN11 has already made an appearance on the SpaceX Starship development center platform in Boca Chica, Texas, where it will soon begin testing before its own flight and landing attempt.
We hope that SN11 will be the first of its brothers to survive the entire experience.
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