- Aug 28, 2014
- 16,341
- 25,468
SpaceX has a lot of work to do.
The next hours and days will bring clarity so for now all we have is questions.
First, they needed a flame trench. They've always needed a flame trench. Todays launch blasted a yuge crater below the pad.
Hard to believe that just water-deluge is going to solve that problem.
My biggest concern was that it clear the launch table. The booster is mounted very deep and the engine bells have very little clearance. For about 2 seconds the booster needs to go straight up. We know the booster lost 3 engines by the 15-second mark and we saw one helluva power slide off the pad. Did any engine bells hit the side of the table leading to engine out?
What were the causes of the other engine outs? If it was all debris then good.
Looks like at least one of two HPU's blew up. The hydraulic power units control the gimbling engines which would partly explain the lack of control however there were a lot of other factors. The HPU's however have been replaced with electric units on the next boosters.
It looks the interstage, the top part of the booster that supports the Starship deformed during accent. Starship looks crooked in relation to the booster about 10-20 seconds into flight. Very unstable. Engines out, HPU's on fire and a crushed interstage but the thing somehow managed to make it through MaxQ.
The Starship is held to the booster with three clamps. Unknown if those clamps are hydraulically or electrically activated. But there is nothing that pushes Starship away. The booster is supposed to do a bit of a "flick" to release Starship. Despite the call out of "stage sep" I don't think it was trying to separate.
This combination of B7/S24 was already an iteration or two behind. Honestly think part of the reason they launched it was just to get it off the property.
SpaceX has three boosters and three ships waiting in the wings each with improvements.
B8/S25 - Booster 8 has been scrapped and S25 has TPS and fins. I don't think S25 flies next. (but I'm always wrong).
B9/S26 - Booster 9 has all the upgrades like electric gimbling and even more stringers - maybe the interstage doesn't crumble.
B10/S27. Booster 10 has even more stringers. S27 like S26 are without TPS, fins or a payload door.
I believe they will launch B9/S26 just to see if they can get to orbit*. And if that fails B10/S27. After that, they can work on whatever is next (hint: it may be a long time before they tackle reentry).
Stage 0 took a beating. Tank farm tanks have impressive dents. No telling what else took a hit. I think they might have to rethink a flame trench. I don't think a water deluge is enough. But we've got to be looking at 3-6 months before the next attempt to get the pad back ready. By then we may have totally redesigned boosters and ships.
The next hours and days will bring clarity so for now all we have is questions.
First, they needed a flame trench. They've always needed a flame trench. Todays launch blasted a yuge crater below the pad.
Hard to believe that just water-deluge is going to solve that problem.
My biggest concern was that it clear the launch table. The booster is mounted very deep and the engine bells have very little clearance. For about 2 seconds the booster needs to go straight up. We know the booster lost 3 engines by the 15-second mark and we saw one helluva power slide off the pad. Did any engine bells hit the side of the table leading to engine out?
What were the causes of the other engine outs? If it was all debris then good.
Looks like at least one of two HPU's blew up. The hydraulic power units control the gimbling engines which would partly explain the lack of control however there were a lot of other factors. The HPU's however have been replaced with electric units on the next boosters.
It looks the interstage, the top part of the booster that supports the Starship deformed during accent. Starship looks crooked in relation to the booster about 10-20 seconds into flight. Very unstable. Engines out, HPU's on fire and a crushed interstage but the thing somehow managed to make it through MaxQ.
The Starship is held to the booster with three clamps. Unknown if those clamps are hydraulically or electrically activated. But there is nothing that pushes Starship away. The booster is supposed to do a bit of a "flick" to release Starship. Despite the call out of "stage sep" I don't think it was trying to separate.
This combination of B7/S24 was already an iteration or two behind. Honestly think part of the reason they launched it was just to get it off the property.
SpaceX has three boosters and three ships waiting in the wings each with improvements.
B8/S25 - Booster 8 has been scrapped and S25 has TPS and fins. I don't think S25 flies next. (but I'm always wrong).
B9/S26 - Booster 9 has all the upgrades like electric gimbling and even more stringers - maybe the interstage doesn't crumble.
B10/S27. Booster 10 has even more stringers. S27 like S26 are without TPS, fins or a payload door.
I believe they will launch B9/S26 just to see if they can get to orbit*. And if that fails B10/S27. After that, they can work on whatever is next (hint: it may be a long time before they tackle reentry).
Stage 0 took a beating. Tank farm tanks have impressive dents. No telling what else took a hit. I think they might have to rethink a flame trench. I don't think a water deluge is enough. But we've got to be looking at 3-6 months before the next attempt to get the pad back ready. By then we may have totally redesigned boosters and ships.
