SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained why Starship’s SN11 prototype caught fire last week.
In a tweet on Monday, the billionaire responded to a Twitter account with the SpaceX theme that asked how the investigation into SN11’s “unscheduled rapid dismount” – or RUD – was going.
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“The ascent phase, the transition to the horizontal and the control during the free fall were good. A (relatively) small leak of CH4 led to a fire in engine 2 and fried the avionics part, causing a difficult start in the attempt to landing on the CH4 turbo pump “, he explained.
A “difficult start” is when there is ignition with too much fuel in the engine’s combustion chamber and the pressure is too high, according to Space.com.
“This is being fixed in 6 ways by Sunday,” said Musk.
The failed test flight was launched on March 30 from SpaceX’s South Texas spacecraft development center, near the village of Boca Chica.
After ascending to a maximum altitude of 6.2 miles, as planned, the 165-foot-high stainless steel spacecraft separated before it touched.
The dense fog obscured the live video of the explosion and the onboard cameras froze after the SN11 made its characteristic turn maneuver in preparation for landing.
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CNET reported on Monday that other cameras aimed at the airstrip captured an orange glow and a storm of debris as it rained in the exclusion zone around the runway.
“At least the crater is in the right place!” Musk tweeted on March 30th.
SpaceX later confirmed that SN11 “experimented” with a RUD, marking the fourth consecutive spacecraft vehicle that SpaceX has lost since December.
Debris is recovered from a National Wildlife Refuge after the SpaceX Starship prototype SN11 rocket did not land safely in Boca Chica, Texas, USA on March 31, 2021. REUTERS / Gene Blevins
(REUTERS / Gene Blevins)
CH4, or methane, powers the SN11’s three Raptor engines, giving it more than 1 million pounds of thrust.
Raptors should shut down when they reach the desired altitude and rekindle at the last stage of the rocket’s descent for a vertical landing.
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Both Starship and SpaceX’s Super Heavy – the reinforcement stage – will be powered by Raptor engines and the company has already built the next updated Starship prototype, SN15.
The spacecraft was designed for orbital flights and will carry human passengers and cargo to the moon and eventually to Mars.