/sci/ - Science & Math

If the next Starship makes it through staging, you can call that a win
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https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/11/if-the-next-starship-makes-it-through-staging-you-can-call-that-a-win/
> SpaceX will have answers to some burning questions in the first three minutes of the next Starship test flight. Did the upgrades to the Starship launch pad in Texas hold up to the rocket's powerful thrust? Are the rocket's Raptor engines more reliable than they were on the first Starship test flight in April? And did the rocket's Super Heavy booster safely separate from the Starship upper stage?
> But first, the rocket needs to make it into space. That didn't happen during Starship's first full-scale test flight on April 20, but SpaceX learned a lot from that mission. Engineers learned they needed to beef up the launch mount, which took a beating from the Super Heavy booster as it generated more than 15 million pounds of thrust from its methane-fueled Raptor engines.
> Six of the 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed before liftoff or in flight on the April test launch. Propellant leaks and fires in the booster's engine compartment eventually severed connection with the rocket's primary flight computer, and the vehicle lost control a little more than two minutes into the flight. It reached an altitude of around 128,000 feet (39 kilometers), then exploded when a self-destruct mechanism finally engaged about four minutes after liftoff. Debris from the rocket rained down over the Gulf of Mexico.