SpaceX aborts the launch of the Starship SN10 test with 0.1 seconds on the clock

SpaceX aborts the launch of the Starship SN10 test with 0.1 seconds on the clock

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The company will recycle the rocket fuel and try to take off again at around 4 pm CT, according to SpaceX engineer John Insprucker on the company’s webcast about the launch attempt.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that abortion was triggered by predefined patterns around the rocket’s momentum, which Musk described as “slightly conservative. He added that the company would increase the rocket’s impulse limit, giving the rocket more room to maneuver to get approved for takeoff and try to launch again on Wednesday.

SpaceX’s SN10, an early prototype of the company’s Starship Mars rocket, was supposed to fly about six miles (10 km) above the coastal landscape before performing some aerobatics in the air and descending to land back at SpaceX’s facilities in southern Texas . SpaceX has attempted such a test flight twice before, with both ending in a forced landing.

Insprucker said the main purpose of the test was to collect data on how the vehicle’s flaps would control the prototype of the starship as it crashes back to Earth.

Musk first explained Starship’s intended landing method during a media event in September 2019. He described it as a unique maneuver that would cause the rocket to dive back into the air with its belly pointed at Earth while its four flippers moved slightly to keep it stable. It is a maneuver that Musk said aims to simulate how a parachutist would fall into the air, instead of the straight vertical descent to Earth that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets employ when they are coming in to land.

Improving the staggering landing maneuver is essential to “enable a fully reusable transport system designed to transport crew and cargo on long-term interplanetary flights and help humanity return to the Moon and travel to Mars and beyond”, according to the website from the company.

Although previous attempts have encountered explosive endings, SpaceX is known for embracing fiery mishaps during the rocket development process. The company says these accidents are the fastest and most efficient way to collect data, an approach that differentiates the company from its close partner, NASA, which prefers slow and methodical tests over dramatic crises.
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SpaceX intends to use the starship for a variety of purposes, including transporting paying customers between cities at breakneck speeds, potentially assisting NASA’s moon landing efforts and eventually launching human cargo and missions to Mars.

The ship is still in the early stages of development. A full-scale prototype has not yet been built. SpaceX also hasn’t started publicly testing the Super Heavy, a gigantic rocket that will be needed to propel the ship into Earth orbit or beyond.

Musk said during a recent interview with podcast presenter Joe Rogan that he expects the Starship to operate regular flights by 2023 and that the vehicle will reach orbit by the end of this year. It is unclear whether SpaceX will meet this deadline. The aerospace industry, and Musk in particular, is famous for announcing projects that take much longer – and incur much higher expenses – than originally planned.

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