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Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX finally reveals why its Starship Flight 8 Ship exploded, failure traced to 'flash' in rocket's engines
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As SpaceX gears up for the ninth test flight of its super-heavy Starship launch vehicle, the company has released findings from its investigation into the explosion of the rocket's upper stage, referred to as "ship", during its eighth test flight in March. Flight 8 launched March 6 from SpaceX's Starbase manufacturing and test facility on the southern tip of Texas. The mission largely mirrored that of Flight 7, during which the both vehicles' first stage Super Heavy boosters successfully rocketed back to Starbase to be caught by the launch tower's "Mechazilla" chopstick-like arms. Ship, however, for both Flight 7 and Flight 8, did not fare as well as its Super Heavy counterpart. (Starship Flight 9 is scheduled to launch on May 27.) Flight 7 and Flight 8 each ended in dramatic explosions over the Atlantic Ocean that could be seen from Florida, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, raining fiery Starship debris into the drink below. Flight 7's Ship encountered a propellant leak and fire in the spacecraft's "attic," leading to its explosion and loss. Side-by-side, Flight 8 followed a very similar trajectory, but instead of a fire in the attic, Starship's last flight suffered a "flash" in what could be comparatively called its "basement," which brought about its blazing demise. In this case, "basement" is Ship's business end with six powerful Raptor rocket engines. The flight plan for Starship's eighth launch called for Ship to deploy four dummy payloads simulating SpaceX Starlink satellites about 17.5 minutes after liftoff, followed by a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off of Western Australia roughly 50 minutes later. But it never got the chance to do either, and now we know why. A "flash" occurred near one of Ship's center, sea-level Raptor engines, followed by an "energetic event" that led to that engine's shutdown, SpaceX said in an update. The two remaining sea-level Raptors immediately terminated their thrust, as well as one of Ship's vacuum-optimized Raptor engines, causing the vehicle to begin tumbling out of control. About two minutes after the initial flash, SpaceX lost communication with the vehicle, which triggered the spacecraft's automated flight termination software and subsequent self-destruct. "The most probable root cause for the loss of Starship was identified as a hardware failure in one of the upper stage's center Raptor engines that resulted in inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition," SpaceX wrote. Super Heavy, too, though successfully returned to Starbase and the warm embrace of "Mechazilla," didn't do so without incident. Only 11 of the Flight 8 booster's 13 engines used for its initial boostback burn were successful in reigniting. Its landing burn as it approached the launch tower saw 12 of 13 engines relight, including one of the previously unlit engines from the boostback burn. SpaceX traced the cause to "torch ignition issues" on each of the malfunctioning engines, as a result of "thermal conditions local to the igniter," the company said. To mitigate these overheating issues on Starship's upcoming flight, SpaceX says they have reinforced the affected areas with additional insulation. RELATED STORIES: — Starship and Super Heavy explained — SpaceX gets FAA approval for Flight 9 of Starship megarocket — SpaceX cargo Dragon departs International Space Station, begins return journey to Earth Fixes for Starship's upper stage came down to tightening some bolts at some of Ship's more critical junctures and improving the plumbing so flammable gases don't ignite when they aren't supposed to: "Starship's upper stage will receive additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system. Future upgrades to Starship will introduce the Raptor 3 engine which will include additional reliability improvements to address the failure mechanism." SpaceX says their investigation included more than 100 long-duration test firings of the Raptor engine at the company's McGregor, Texas, test facility, and that its efforts were overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in conjunction with NASA, the National Transportation and Safety Board and the U.S. Space Force. Now, the FAA agrees Starship is ready to fly again. In a statement released May 22, the FAA says they, "conducted a comprehensive safety review of the SpaceX Starship Flight 8 mishap and determined that the company has satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap, and therefore, the Starship vehicle can return to flight." The same day SpaceX released their Flight 8 investigation results, the company also officially announced the date for Flight 9. Starship's next launch is scheduled for no earlier than Tuesday, May 27, and will be the first launch of a flight-proven Super Heavy booster. Flight 9 will liftoff on the same first stage that supported Starship Flight 7, during a launch window that opens at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). SpaceX will stream the mission live on their website, as well as their account on X. will also carry the broadcast on our homepage, starting about 30 minutes before liftoff.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 launch on May 27?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SpaceX has unveiled the target date for its next Starship megarocket launch, hoping the third time will be the charm after two failures earlier this year. But if you plan to watch the launch live, you'll need to know when to tune in and for that, space fans, we've got you covered. The Starship Flight 9 launch, as it's called, is scheduled to launch no earlier than Tuesday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) from SpaceX's Starbase test site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. Like its name suggests, this will be the ninth test flight of the giant SpaceX rocket, but it is the first to attempt to reuse the giant Super Heavy booster, the first stage of Starship. It comes after two failed launches this year, Flight 7 and Flight 8, in January and March, respectively. On those flights, SpaceX successfully returned its Super Heavy booster to Earth in back-to-back rocket catches at with giant chopsticks, but the Ship stage of the rocket failed shortly after liftoff. SpaceX is currently targeting a 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) launch time for Flight 9 on May 27, but that time could shift depending on the vehicle's status. It will be 6:30 p.m. local time in Texas. SpaceX has not listed a specific window for the flight, but has followed 30-minute windows in the past, which could put the launch anytime between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT (2330-0000 GMT), if the company does so again. The launch date, itself, is a no earlier than date, but local officials for the area around SpaceX's Starbase have announced road closures for the area through May 29, suggesting back up days on May 28 and May 29 are possible. Related: Read our SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy guide for a detailed look Starship Die Cast Rocket Model Now $47.99 on Amazon. If you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just Deal SpaceX is being extra careful with this launch to test the reuse of its massive Super Heavy booster. The booster on Flight 9 was use to launch the Flight 7 Ship in January, with only four of its 33 Raptor engines being replaced for this mission. The entire Starship vehicle, when assembled, stands about 400 feet (122 meters), making it the world's largest and most powerful rocket. It is designed to be fully reusable to enable trips to low Earth orbit, the moon (NASA's picked Starship to land Artemis astronauts in 2027), and ultimately fly to Mars. Yes, you can watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 launch. The company will offer a free live webcast of the launch on May 27 starting at 7 p.m. EST (2300 GMT), about 30 minutes before liftoff. You can watch that livestream on SpaceX's Flight 9 mission page, as well as on the @SpaceX X account and X TV app. will also simulcast the SpaceX webcast on this page, our homepage and via YouTube. will offer its own livestream YouTube, and will include a substantial prelaunch show with views of fueling and more. The channel also offers live 24/7 views of SpaceX's Starship and Starbase operations. If you plan to travel to South Texas to see Starship Flight 9 in person, there are several places where you can observe the launch. South Padre Island offers a clear view of the launch from its Cameron County Amphithear in Isla Blanca Park. The nearby shoreline of Port Isabel is another option, but plan ahead as traffic can be heavy at times. SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 mission is expected to last just over one hour and is hoping to replicate the path of its immediate predecessor, Starship Flight 8 in March, before that mission ended in failure. SpaceX had hoped to attempt a mock Starlink satellite deployment on Flight 7 (among other tests) before attempting a "soft landing" in the Indian Ocean and sinking. The Starship upper stage will again target multiple in-space objectives, including the deployment of eight Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites," SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. "The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned." The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, will NOT attempt to return to its launch site and be captured by SpaceX's giant Mechazilla chopsticks. Instead, it will attempt a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico and be discarded. That's because it is the first time SpaceX is attempting to refly such a huge rocket. TIME (Hr:Min:Sec) EVENT T-1:15:00 Flight director poll for fuel loading T-0:51:37 Starship liquid oxygen loading begins T-0:45:20 Starship liquid methane loading begins T-0:41:37 Super Heavy liquid methane loading begins T-0:35:52 Super Heavy liquid oxygen loading begins T-00:19:40 Super Heavy Raptor engine chilldown T-00:3:20 Starship fueling complete T-00:2:50 Super Heavy fueling complete T-00:0:30 Flight Director GO for launch T-00:00:10 Flame deflector activation T-00:00:03 Raptor ignition sequence startup T-00:00:00 Liftoff ("Excitement Guaranteed," SpaceX says) TIME (Hr:Min:Sec) FLIGHT EVENT T+00:02 Liftoff T+01:02 Starship/Super Heavy reach Max Q T+02:35 Super Heavy main engine cutoff T+02:37 Hot-staging separation/Starship Raptor engine ignition T+02:47 Super Heavy boostback burn startup T+03:27 Super Heavy boostback burn engine shutdown T+03:29 Hot-stage jettison T+06:19 Super Heavy landing burn startup T+06:40 Super Heavy landing burn shutdown T+08:56 Starship engine cutoff T+00:18:26 Payload deploy demo T+00:37:49 Starship engine relight demonstration T+00:47:50 Starship reentry T+01:03:11 Starship transonic T+1:04:26 Starship is subsonic T+1:06:11 Landing flip T+1:06:16 Landing burn T+1:06:38 "An exciting landing!" SpaceX says. "The booster on this flight test is also attempting several flight experiments to gather real-world performance data on future flight profiles and off-nominal scenarios," SpaceX wrote in the overview. "To maximize the safety of launch infrastructure at Starbase, the Super Heavy booster will attempt these experiments while on a trajectory to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America and will not return to the launch site for catch." (President Trump has signed an executive order renaming the Gulf or Mexico body of water the Gulf of America.) If all goes well, the Flight 9 Super Heavy booster should land in the Gulf of Mexico just under seven minutes after launch, with the payload deployment test about 18 minutes after liftoff and the Starship landing in the Indian Ocean about 66 minutes into the flight. RELATED STORIES: — SpaceX gets FAA approval for Flight 9 of Starship megarocket — Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars transportation system — China planning to build its own version of SpaceX's Starship If SpaceX is unable to launch Starship's Flight 9 test mission on May 27, the company could try again on May 28 and May 29. A public advisory from Cameron County, which contains Starbase, stated that road closures are possible from May 27 to May 29 for the Starship launch activities. "I have ordered the closure of Boca Chica Beach and Hwy 4 for the purpose of protecting Public Health and Safety during SpaceX flight testing activities on May 27, 2025, in the time period between 10:30 a.m. C.S.T. to 9:30 p.m. C.S.T. and in the alternative on May 28, 2025, or May 29, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. C.S.T. to 9:30 p.m. C.S.T., of the same day," Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. wrote in the advisory. "Should SpaceX not complete its planned flight-testing activity on May 27, 2025, then SpaceX may use the alternate dates to complete its testing activities." As mentioned above, SpaceX has repeatedly warned that its schedule is dynamic and could change. The company plans to share its latest launch targets via its @SpaceX account on X.
