SpaceX знает, почему Starship взорвался во время испытаний

SpaceX верит в это знает what caused the explosion during the seventh test flight of the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket on January 16, 2025. A fire in the aft part of the Starship, located between the bottom of the liquid oxygen tank and the rear heat shield, caused “all but one of the Starship’s engines to perform controlled shutdown sequences,” which led to a loss of communication and, ultimately, to the spacecraft’s safety system triggering its own destruction.

The purpose of the seventh test flight was to test several upgrades that SpaceX has made to its heavy rocket system. After a successful launch and complete combustion, the Super Heavy rocket separated from the Starship and launched the booster to return to the launch pad. After landing, the Super Heavy launch vehicle was successfully intercepted in the air for the second time by the launch tower at Starbase.

The mission did not go well for Starship. Approximately two minutes after the spacecraft ignited the Raptor second stage engines after separation, a flash was observed in the aft section of Starship, known as the “loft,” after which sensors detected a pressure increase due to a leak. Two minutes after that, a second flash was observed, followed by a sustained fire in the loft section, which eventually “caused all but one of Starship’s engines to perform a controlled shutdown sequence and ultimately resulted in the loss of communication with the ship.”

Post-flight analysis showed that the Starship’s autonomous flight safety system triggered a self-destruct sequence about three minutes after the ground crew lost contact with the spacecraft. According to SpaceX, the most likely cause of the incident was vibrations, which were much stronger during