SN10 Successfully Lands ... Sort of

After a multitude of test fires and botched launch attempts, SN10 took flight today at 3:15 PST. During today’s launch, SN10 reached an altitude of 6.2 mi (10 km), which was the same altitude that SN9 and SN8 went to. However, unlike SN8 and SN9, SN10 was able to safely land. But, 8 minutes after SN10 completed its landing, it blew up!

SN10 Successfully Landing

During the test flight today, SN10 used its three raptor engines to reach its maximum altitude. After reaching this height, SN10 started a propellant transfer into the internal header tanks. This happens because SN10 needs to readjust its center of gravity to change its orientation. The reason it changes its orientation and does the flip maneuver is to reduce its speed using air resistance so it doesn’t have to rely on just fuel to safely land. Additionally, it also allows the rocket to slowly glide to the landing is more accurate. To land, SN10 used a combination of its four flaps, two on the nose and two on the bottom, and angling the three raptor engines. This allowed SN10 to make a safe landing.

SN10 Doing Flip Maneuver

SN10’s landing wasn’t the smoothest landing ever. While in the final ten seconds of attempting to land, one of SN10’s steering flaps caught on fire. This flap continued to burn for sometime even after landing. However, at 3:30 PST, the rocket blew up. Many online have theorized that it was a propellant leak that led to the fiery explosion, but SpaceX has not confirmed this yet. Despite this, SpaceX has said the flight was a success and helped them gather data for the SN11 flight. Here is the link to the flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODY6JWzS8WU.

SN10 Blowing Up After 
a Successful Landing

SpaceX’s final product will be Starship, which I have talked about before but I will recap it. Starship will take people and payloads to the Moon, and eventually Mars. Starship will also be able to fly below the atmosphere, like a flight from New York to London. Starship is made up of two components: the spaceship called Starship and the rocket known as Super Heavy. The final version of Starship will be powered by six Raptor engines. The Super Heavy will use 30 Raptor engines. This is because Starship will need enough power to launch itself from the Moon and Mars. SpaceX and Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, hope that Starship will be flying people by 2023. It in fact already has a contract for a lunar landing scheduled for that year.

SN11 Getting Its Nose Cone Attached

In the meantime, SN11 already has its steel nose cone attached and is getting ready for its launch. Like SN10, SN11 will have multiple static fires in the weeks prior to launch to make sure everything is working as planned. SN11 is also the last in the production of the 4 identical starship prototypes (SN8, SN9, SN10, and SN11). After SN11 will be SN 12. For SN 12, SpaceX is keeping a relatively similar design and will be testing a new altitude. Musk tweeted back in November 2020 that there will be major SN15 and prototypes, meaning that production of the SN15 parts has already started to occur. The last scheduled prototype launch is SN18. 

In the next few months, we will see more Starship prototype launches and hear more about Starship and its timeline. So far, SpaceX wants to follow the timeline that they have set out. SpaceX is also working on the Super Heavy Prototype, which will be a culmination of all the things they learned from the Starship Prototypes as well as the Falcon Heavy. In the end, SpaceX is helping to lead the space travel of the future.

Sources:

Lapin, Tamar. “SpaceX Rocket Lands in One Piece - before Blowing up into Giant Fireball.” New York Post, New York Post, 4 Mar. 2021, nypost.com/2021/03/03/spacex-rocket-lands-in-one-piece-after-previous-explosive-test-flights/.

Pradhan, Arnav. SN10 Readies for Liftoff, Blogger, 26 Feb. 2021, www.arnavpradhan.com/2021/02/sn10-readies-for-liftoff.html. 

Pradhan, Arnav. SN9 Launch, Blogger, 26 Feb. 2021, www.arnavpradhan.com/2021/02/sn9-launch.html. 

Ralph, Eric. “SpaceX Rolls Last Starship off the Assembly Line Ahead of ‘Major Upgrades.’” TESLARATI, 11 Feb. 2021, www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-sn11-complete-major-upgrades/. 

SpaceX. “Starship | SN10 | High-Altitude Flight Test.” YouTube, SpaceX, 4 Mar. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODY6JWzS8WU. 

Wall, Mike. “SpaceX's SN10 Starship Prototype Lands after Epic Test Launch - but Then Explodes.” Space.com, Space, 4 Mar. 2021, www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn10-test-launch-landing-explosion.