SpaceX Starship prototype rocket explodes on landing

Excellent study material for all civil services aspirants - begin learning - Kar ke dikhayenge!

  SpaceX Starship prototype rocket explodes on landing

---

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

---

1. Second failure: A prototype of SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded during a landing attempt minutes after a high-altitude experimental launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on 02-Feb, 2021, in a repeat of an accident that destroyed a previous test rocket. The Starship SN8, the first prototype to fly in a high-altitude test launch, met a similar fate in December 2020. No injuries occurred in either of the two incidents. 
2. Why did it explode: The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent, like the SN8 before it, was a test model of the heavy-lift rocket being developed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars. The self-guided, 16-story-tall rocket initially soared into the sky. Reaching its peak altitude of about 10 km (6 miles), the spacecraft then hovered momentarily in midair, shut off its engines and executed a planned “belly-flop” maneuver to descend nose-down under aerodynamic control back toward Earth.
3. The moment: Trouble came when the Starship, after flipping its nose upward again to begin its landing sequence, tried to reactivate two of its three Raptor thrusters, but one failed to ignite. The rocket then fell rapidly to the ground, exploding in a roaring ball of flames, smoke and debris – 6 minutes and 26 seconds after launch.
4. What Musk said on FAA: There was no immediate comment from Musk, who also heads the electric carmaker Tesla Inc. Hours earlier, Musk said on Twitter he planned to stay off the social media platform “for a while.” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would oversee an investigation of the landing mishap. Musk recently tweeted that the FAA’s “space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure” and that “humanity will never get to Mars” under its rules.
5. Reusable rockets: The complete Starship rocket, which will stand 394-feet (120 meters) tall when mated with its super-heavy first-stage booster, is the company’s next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle – the center of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel more affordable and routine. A first orbital Starship flight is planned for 2021's end. Musk has said he intends to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon with the Starship in 2023.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

Join UPSC Self Prep course | Online Course (PT Gurukul)  | Covid Special Course |  Join PT courses