SpaceX's Starship V3 megarocket has been recorded on the ground. The incident that caused the concern of the aviation authorities in the USA
Just five days after its debut flight, SpaceX's Starship V3 megarocket was grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which announced that an incident occurred during the May 22 launch and requested an investigation before the huge vehicle could fly again, reports Space.com on Thursday, taken over by Agerpres.
“A return to flight of the Starship-Super Heavy vehicle must be based on the FAA's determination that any system, process or procedure related to the accident does not affect public safety,” FAA officials wrote in a May 27 update.
The Starship is made up of two elements, both of which are designed to be completely and quickly reusable – a booster called Super Heavy (the first stage of the assembly) and a spaceship known as the Starship, or Ship for short (the second stage).
SpaceX believes that Starship – the largest and most powerful launcher ever built – will revolutionize spaceflight, making colonization of Mars and other ambitious exploration achievements economically feasible.
How the test flight went
The new V3 variant (“Version 3”), with a height of 124.4 meters, is a key part of this vision. It is the first iteration of Starship capable of spaceflight, according to SpaceX, and will carry astronauts to the lunar surface on NASA's Artemis 4 mission in late 2028, if all goes according to plan.
So last week's suborbital test flight — the 12th overall for the Starship program — was a hugely important milestone for the company. It went well in most respects. For example, Ship successfully deployed 20 dummy Starlink Internet satellites, as well as two real Starlink satellites equipped with cameras to photograph the vehicle's heat shield in space. And the upper stage survived re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in good condition, making a smooth and controlled descent off the coast of Western Australia as planned.
The Super Heavy was to perform its own light docking in the Gulf of Mexico. But the booster failed to complete the engine burns required for this controlled return and ended up suffering a “hard spin” in the Gulf, as SpaceX wrote in a mission update.
The FAA has deemed this result an incident and is asking the company to conduct an investigation into its cause.
“The FAA will oversee the SpaceX-led investigation, be involved at every step of the process and approve SpaceX's final report, including any corrective actions,” agency officials wrote in Wednesday's update.
It is not known how long this grounding will last, but SpaceX tends to quickly solve such problems. An FAA grounding of the company's already famous Falcon 9 rocket last February lasted just four days.
