SpaceX has concluded its investigation into the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket, which ended in a dramatic explosion. The mission launched on January 16 from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas and was partially successful, catching the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower using the “chopstick” arms as planned.
However, the upper stage – known as Starship or simply “Ship” – suffered an anomaly and broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, sending debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos Islands. SpaceX identified a likely cause just hours after liftoff: an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.
Further investigation has confirmed this initial finding, revealing that the most probable root cause of the loss was a harmonic response several times stronger than seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system. This resulted in sustained fires that caused all but one of the engines to execute controlled shutdown sequences, ultimately leading to communication with the ship being lost.
SpaceX has taken steps to minimize the chances of a similar incident occurring on future Starship flights. For example, it conducted an extra-long engine test, which informed hardware changes and adjustments to propellant temperatures. The company is also adding additional vents and a new purge system to the current generation of ships to make the attic section more robust.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has oversighted the investigation, with participation from NASA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the U.S. Space Force. SpaceX is working with the FAA to close out the investigation and receive a “flight safety determination” in time for its upcoming launch on February 28.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/spacex-wraps-up-investigation-of-starship-flight-7-explosion-video