The SpaceX Starship Flight 7 exploded on Thursday a few minutes after launch. The debris rained from the sky, leading to a change in flight courses above the area.
X user @KingDomRedux shared a stunning video of the Starship debris falling from the sky:
First night in Turks and Caicos and we’re on the beach and see this.
— KingDomRedux (@KingDomRedux) January 16, 2025
The Starship Flight 7 was launched from the Boca Chica, Texas, launch facility at 5:38 pm EST. The first stage of the flight test went smoothly, with the Super Heavy booster successfully caught by Mechazilla. However, communication was lost with the Starship a few minutes later, which ultimately resulted in an explosion.
“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Elon Musk posted on X.
What went wrong in Starship Flight 7?
This next-gen starship was one of the most capable starships flown so far! Sadly, not everything went as planned. Communication with the upper stage was lost shortly after lift-off.
SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot confirmed on a live stream that they had lost the starship, and a few minutes later, videos of the starship explosion were shared across social media by the witnesses confirming the Starship loss. Investigations are underway to determine the cause behind this loss of contact.
What does a successful Starship Flight test look like?
Below is the sequence of events that occur during a successful Starship Flight test:
- Lift off: The super heavy, powered by 33 Raptor engines, takes off from the launch pad. Taking the starship to the desired altitude
- Hotstage maneuver: This innovative technique ignites the upper stage engines while still attached to the booster, ensuring continuous acceleration.
- Mechzilla booster catch: the super heavy booster returns to the Starbase for a catch after the hot stage maneuver.
- Test satellite deployment: The starship continues to go into space, getting into its suborbital trajectory and deploying test satellites.
- Reentry of Starship: A raptor engine on the starship is reignited to put the starship into the reentry trajectory.
- Flip maneuver: As the starship reenters Earth’s atmosphere, the raptor engine will be reignited, and the spacecraft will perform a flip maneuver for a soft water landing in the Indian Ocean.
Was Starship Flight 7 different from previous flight tests?
Yes, the Starship Flight 7 was much different from the previous flight tests. Flight 7 aimed to test the next-gen starship with a number of structural and functional upgrades on the starship and the ground station.
Here are some of the major upgrades that were done in the Starship Flight 7:
- Redesigned forward flaps: The starship was redesigned to reduce reentry heating. The forward flaps of the spacecraft’s upper stage were reduced in size and shifted upwards away from the heat shield.
- Tile removal: like the previous flight, multiple tiles were removed from the entire vehicle to stress test the vulnerable areas.
- Propellant capacity upgrade: The starship spacecraft was made 2 meters taller, which allowed the starship to carry 25% more propellant.
- Propulsion Upgrades: Enhancements such as vacuum jacketing on the feed lines and a new feed line system improve overall performance.
- Payload Deployment: The mission aimed to deploy 10 simulated Starlink satellites that would enhance Starlink’s global internet reach and conduct several re-entry tests. Each satellite is designed to simulate the next generation of Starlink, testing payload capacity.
- Multiple Re-entry Experiments: To improve re-entry survivability, various metallic tiles with active cooling systems will be tested.
- Radar testing: Several new radar systems were fitted on the tower catch arms to measure the distance between the superheavy booster and the catch arms, enabling efficient booster catch.
Achievements of the Starship Flight 7
The starship exploded during Flight 7; however, not everything was negative about this flight test.
Mechazilla successfully caught the Super Heavy Booster. The super heavy booster returned to the launch site for a catch attempt, which proved to be successful once again. Thousands of catch-commit criteria had to be fulfilled to make the catch successful.
This booster catch technology will be crucial for future space missions, as it enables the company to refurbish and reuse the booster in significantly less time.
Despite the catastrophic end of this mission, we should remember that every flight offers lessons; understanding this anomaly is crucial for future success.
