SpaceX Loses its Third Starship Prototype During a Cryogenic Test
DannyB writes:
SpaceX loses its third Starship prototype during a cryogenic test
This week, SpaceX workers in South Texas loaded the third full-scale Starship prototype-SN3-onto a test stand "at the company's Boca Chica launch site. On Wednesday night, they pressure-tested the vehicle at ambient temperature with nitrogen, and SN3 performed fine.
On Thursday night SpaceX began cryo-testing the vehicle, which means it was loaded again with nitrogen, but this time it was chilled to flight-like temperatures and put under flight-like pressures. Unfortunately, a little after 2am local time, SN3 failed and began to collapse on top of itself. It appeared as if the vehicle may have lost pressurization and become top-heavy.
Shortly after the failure, SpaceX's founder and chief engineer, Elon Musk, said on Twitter, "We will see what data review says in the morning, but this may have been a test configuration mistake." A testing issue would be good in the sense that it means the vehicle itself performed well, and the problem can be more easily addressed.
A YouTube Video is included in the article at no extra cost.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.