JAKARTA - SpaceX's rocket prototype, Starship series 8 (SN8) exploded and failed to land in its first test flight. Even so, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not consider the incident a failure.
"A successful climb, switch to the header tank & control flap right to the point of landing !," Musk wrote on his personal Twitter account.
Even though the Starship rocket exploded and left nothing but rubble and puffs of smoke. Musk remains proud and appreciates the team and crew involved in developing Starship.
Because according to the Tesla boss, the SpaceX development team can get the data needed so that the incident does not happen again. Given that the landing control system has worked very well in several previous test trials.
"Fuel tank pressure was low during landing combustion, causing high landing speeds and RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congratulations SpaceX team !!," said Musk.
So far, SpaceX has developed a number of prototypes of its artificial spacecraft that will be flown to the Moon and Mars. So even if SN8 fails, SpaceX has prepared a replacement model for further testing.
Starship SN8 failureThank you, South Texas for your support! This is the gateway to Mars.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2020
It is known that the Starship SN8 prototype underwent its first high-altitude flight trial, on Wednesday, December 9 at around 5:45 p.m. ET. The rocket launch test was carried out at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, United States (US).
In yesterday's flight test, SpaceX targeted the Starship rocket to reach an altitude of 8 miles or about 12.5 kilometers and perform a number of maneuvers in the air. This includes doing a 'belly flop', where the rocket changes its position horizontally before landing.
Launching the CNN International page, said Elon Musk, the cause of RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) or in layman's language means an explosion, which occurs when the fins of the rocket lose strength and hardover occurs (control surface exceeds the limit).
Whereas when the engine tried to return to balance, the rocket had hit the ground at a 45 degree angle, and damaged the support and engine parts. The remaining fuel and oxygen mix and cause an explosion.
Even so Starship SN8 managed to air for 6 minutes and 42 seconds after being launched. Of course this is an important note for SpaceX, because the previous prototype also exploded and only reached an altitude of 500 feet in the air.
Neither Musk nor SpaceX, did not explain in detail how much the total loss was experienced from the incident. But according to private financial and investment advice firm Motely Fool, Starship is estimated to cost roughly four times that of the Falcon 9.
Where the cost to build a Falcon 9 rocket is approximately 54 million US dollars or around Rp762 billion. That means, Musk suffered a loss of 216 million US dollars or Rp3 trillion from the incident of the explosion of the Starship SN8 rocket.
Ambitious MissionStarship landing flip maneuver pic.twitter.com/QuD9HwZ9CX
- SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 10, 2020
On the other hand, Amazon CEO Jeff Besoz who also owns rocket company Blue Origin, congratulated Musk, and said, "Anyone who knows how tough this thing is is impressed with today's Starship test," he said.
In fact, the Starship rocket is a spacecraft that has been prepared by SpaceX and Elon Musk to take humans to the Moon and Mars. He even predicts that in less than six years, SpaceX will be able to send rockets into space.
"If we are lucky, maybe four years. We want to send an unmanned vehicle there in two years," said Musk upon receiving the award from Axel Springer.
In the last two months, SpaceX has conducted its second manned rocket flight for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS). In addition, the Elon Musk startup has also launched a number of Starlink developments.
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