Starship SN8 vs SN9 vs SN10 FAIL

Описание: SN8
a shiny silver vehicle known as SN8, launched on an epic high-altitude test flight today (Dec. 9), taking off at 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT) from SpaceX's facility near the South Texas village of Boca Chica.

The goal was to soar about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) into the sky, perform some complex aerial maneuvers — including a "belly flop" like the one the final Starship will perform when coming back to Earth on operational flights — and then land safely near the launch stand.

The 165-foot-tall (50 meters) SN8 appeared to notch all of these big milestones, except for the final one: The vehicle hit its landing mark but came in too fast, exploding in a dramatic fireball 6 minutes and 42 seconds after liftoff.

SN8's rapid unplanned disassembly did nothing to dampen the spirits of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, who was thrilled by the results



SN9
The stainless-steel SN9 lifted off at 3:25 p.m. EST (1825 GMT; 2:25 p.m. local Texas time). The 165-foot-tall (50 meters) craft appeared to fly well, shutting down its three Raptor engines sequentially as planned, reaching its target altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) and performing a complex horizontal flip as it would during an operational reentry to Earth's atmosphere.

SN9 didn't manage to slow itself down enough or get vertical for landing. The vehicle hit the touchdown site hard about 6.5 minutes after liftoff, exploding in a massive fireball much as its predecessor, the three-engine SN8 prototype, did on Dec. 9.

SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and payloads to the moon, Mars and other distant destinations. The system consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable: a spaceship called Starship and a giant rocket known as Super Heavy.

The final Starship will be powered by six Raptors, and Super Heavy will have about 30 of the engines, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said. Starship will be powerful enough to get itself off the moon and Mars, but it will need the huge booster's help to get off the much more massive Earth.

SpaceX is iterating toward the final Starship spacecraft via a series of increasingly complex prototypes. The early versions, for example, had just one Raptor engine and got just 500 feet (150 m) off the ground on their brief test hops. SN8 was the first three-engine vehicle to take flight, performing the Starship program's first-ever high-altitude test flight.



SN10
On Wednesday, March 3, Starship serial number (SN10) successfully completed SpaceX’s third high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from our site in Cameron County, Texas.

Similar to the high-altitude flight tests of Starship SN8 and SN9, SN10 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN10 performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

The Starship prototype descended under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps were actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enabled a precise landing at the intended location. SN10’s Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle performed the landing flip maneuver immediately before successfully touching down on the landing pad!

As if the flight test was not exciting enough, SN10 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after landing. These test flights are all about improving our understanding and development of a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration interplanetary flights, and help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.


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