SpaceX’s Starship struggled to self-destruct for a significant period of time after it went out of control, CEO Elon Musk revealed in an autopsy of the craft.
On April 20, SpaceX launched the largest rocket ever built, only for it to explode four minutes after launch. In a Twitter Space audio chat on Saturday, viewed by the New York Times, Musk offered a timeline of the launch and explosion, admitting that the company ran into even more problems during the launch than previously revealed.
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Musk reported that though problems started almost as soon as the rocket lifted off from the launch pad, with several of its 33 engines failing, “things really hit the fan,” 85 seconds in.
The rocket lost its ability to turn the engines, resulting in it somersaulting through the sky uncontrollably. SpaceX initiated the flight termination system shortly after, but the craft failed to self-destruct. Starship tumbled through the sky for a full 40 seconds more until it finally blew up. Musk chalked this up to its structure being even more resilient than expected.
“It took way too long to rupture the tanks,” he said, but added that “The vehicle’s structural margins appear to be better than we expected.”
Musk said that he took the incident as a learning experience and that the company would think about placing more explosives inside the rocket at the next launch so that it would self-destruct as soon as commanded.
Overall, Musk reported satisfaction with the experience, saying “The outcome was roughly what I expected, and maybe slightly exceeding my expectations… [it got] clear of the pad with minimal damage to the pad.”
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However, the Federal Aviation Administration is not satisfied and has grounded all flights in SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy program until it concludes its investigation into the Starship explosion.
The agency appears to have gotten involved largely due to an apparent violation of SpaceX’s environmental assessment, which it had completed to get a license to liftoff. The company wrote that in the event of an explosion, the rocket’s debris field would only extend about 1 square mile around the launch pad. Instead, dust and debris were reported several miles away, in addition to complaints about structural damage in Port Isabel, which is 6 miles away from the launch pad.
