An uncrewed SpaceX Starship prototype rocket failed to land safely on Tuesday after a check launch from Boca Chica, Texas, and engineers have been investigating, SpaceX stated.
“We do appear to have lost all the data from the vehicle,” SpaceX engineer John Insprucker stated in a webcast video of the rocket’s flight check. “We’re going to have to find out from the team what happened.”
The Starship was one in a collection of prototypes for the heavy-lift rocket being developed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s non-public area firm to carry people and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.
The full Starship rocket, which is able to stand 394 toes (120 metres) tall with its super-heavy first-stage booster included, is SpaceX’s next-generation totally reusable launch car – the middle of Musk’s ambitions to make human area journey extra reasonably priced and routine.
A primary orbital Starship flight is deliberate for 12 months’s finish. Musk, who additionally heads the electrical carmaker Tesla Inc, has stated he intends to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa across the moon in the Starship in 2023.
Starships SN8 and SN9 beforehand exploded upon touchdown throughout their check runs. SN10 achieved an upright touchdown earlier this month, however then went up in flames about eight minutes after landing.
“Looks like engine 2 had issues on ascent & didn’t reach operating chamber pressure during landing burn, but, in theory, it wasn’t needed,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday, after SN11’s check flight. “Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today.”
