SpaceX Reveals What Exactly Happened At Starship Launch!
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Published 2024-03-14
Several hours before the scheduled liftoff, the fueling process commenced. As the clock counted down to T-60 minutes, teams conducted final weather checks, ensuring conditions were favorable. Given the green light, the launch director initiated the propellant load.
By T-45 minutes, the Starship and its Super Heavy booster were being fueled with liquid methane and liquid oxygen, a meticulous process watched closely by engineers and space enthusiasts alike.
As the countdown reached T-10 minutes, final system checks were completed. The launch control team verified that all technical and safety parameters were met. Just before the engines' ignition, the water deluge system was activated, unleashing approximately 350,000 gallons of water at the base of the Starship. This massive outpouring served a dual purpose: it was designed to absorb the immense heat generated by the rocket's engines and to mitigate the acoustic shock that could damage the spacecraft, the launch pad, and surrounding infrastructure.
By flooding the area with water, it created a barrier and cooling effect that significantly reduced thermal and acoustic stress. This system's effectiveness was evident as the Starship ascended into the sky; the launch pad and its immediate vicinity remained intact, free from visible damage.
At T-0, the activation of the Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster generated an immense 16 million pounds of thrust, propelling the Starship and its booster off the ground. This level of thrust is about twice that of the Saturn 5 rocket, which historically has been one of the most powerful rockets ever built for the Apollo moon missions.
At T+1 minute into the flight, the vehicle reached the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, known as Max Q. This critical phase occurs as the spacecraft ascends through the atmosphere at increasing speed, resulting in the highest aerodynamic stress on its structure. Successfully navigating through Max Q is crucial, as it tests the vehicle's design and integrity under the most extreme atmospheric flight conditions.
By T+2 minutes and 50 seconds, a pivotal moment in the launch sequence occurred: the hot stage separation. This maneuver involved igniting the Starship's engines before separation, a technique that simplified the process and enhanced efficiency.
During the first starship launch, traditional stage separation was used, where the lower stage would shut down before detaching from the upper stage. This old method wasn't as efficient because it momentarily stopped pushing the rocket forward. This method resulted in a momentary loss of thrust and efficiency during the critical phase of ascent.
Hot staging fixes this by starting the engines on the upper stage of the Starship before it separates from the lower booster stage. This method keeps the rocket moving forward without losing any push, making the launch more efficient. It’s like keeping your foot on the gas pedal while shifting gears in a car, so you don’t lose speed. This approach isn’t entirely new and has been used in Russian rockets, but it was a big step for SpaceX to include it in their system. It required adding special vents and shields to the booster to handle the heat and pressure from the engines firing so close together.
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All Comments (21)
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Kudos to spacex team. Liftoff, separation and transition went fine. Need improvements for reentry and landing. 👏👏
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Forget the 🚀, the black flash in this video is driving me crazy.
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Dude.. that booster was going down at mach 1 or more seconds before zero altitude.
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Um, no, this is a great production, but highly inaccurate on the booster outcome. Please correct and show the booster passing through the cloud layer (as broadcast) and then losing control and cutting transmission. You instead jump straight to the Starship and claim the booster may have landed.
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What's with the screen blank flickering ??? Annoying as heck!!!
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Forget the rocket. The launchpad did a better job than the NASA Saturn V launchpad, and probably cost at least 10X less. Update: I was wrong about the cost above and was rightfully called out on my error. It appears NASA's launchpad cost $67.5M whereas SX's cost around $100M. Sometimes looks can be deceiving.
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So where is the new information that Musk Revealed?
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There are lots of mistakes in this description. Better accuracy would be a good idea.
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Exactly what happened at launch is available everywhere for all to see. The booster crashing into the gulf and Starship burning up and coming apart is what we would like additional info about. Otherwise this video is redundant. I need to go wash my hair.
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Please make sure that the pictures that you show are related to what you are talking about, talking about the booster and showing the ship doesn't match etc.
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I think hot staging is done to keep the fuel at the back end of the 2nd stage. Avoids gaps in fuel flow on startup of 2nd stage.
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Once control is lost at 20,000+ km/h, the immense hulk becomes a weapon.
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Why does improvement by government always require more funding, where abandoning DEI and replacing it with meritocracy based hiring and incompetence firing, cost nothing?
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LOL theres 0 chance the booster splashed down as planned unless you think hitting the water at a few times the speed of sound is what its designed to do 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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The raptor engines did not relight correctly in the vacuum. Why didn't you mention it ?
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There is absolutely no government agency which does no need massive additional funding, just ask them.
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Thank you so much for bringing back the O.G. Voiceover. Very much appreciated.
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Outcome never expected????? It went exactly as I expected and I'm sure many other people including Space X.
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This was great!!
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Nothing revealed. Images jumped all over the place, and not sequentially correct. With the main booster, the engines failed to ignite for splashdown. How could you miss that??? You need to do some serious fact checking.
