SpaceX CEO and chief engineer Elon Musk stressed that Starship Flight 9 provides the firm with plenty of data to review after the test was a partial failure earlier today. After lifting off from Boca Chica, Texas, the Starship's first and second stages successfully separated from each other and completed portions of their remaining mission before going up in flames. According to Musk, a key gain in the test was the second-generation Starship upper stage, which was able to shut down its engines after lighting up post-stage separation. The executive added that SpaceX will increase its test cadence moving forward after the firm took more than two months to fly Starship Flight 9 after March's Flight 8.
Next Starship Flights Can Occur Every Three Weeks, Says Musk
SpaceX set aggressive goals for the ship and the booster for today's mission. For the booster, the firm successfully navigated through a controlled stage-separation profile, which blocked some regions of the rocket's vents on the interstage to control its post-separation direction. According to SpaceX's live stream host Jessie Anderson, the controlled stage separation allows SpaceX to conserve fuel as it has to account for only one direction the rocket can move after it sends the second stage on its way to orbit.
Along with the new profile, SpaceX also flew the Super Heavy booster at a higher angle of attack to allow for higher drag and reduce the rocket's speed as it descended. The greater speed reduction lowers the work for its Raptor engines to allow for additional fuel conservation on the rocket. The final key test objective for the booster was testing a backup engine during its landing burn, but before it could do so, the rocket exploded to end its journey on Starship Flight 9.
SpaceX had set equally ambitious test objectives with the second generation upper stage Starship spacecraft. This rocket is yet to successfully complete a launch profile despite the fact that Flight 9 was its third flight. Ahead of the launch, in an interview with ArsTechnica, Musk commented that Flight 8's failure can be mitigated through introducing the Raptor 3 engine on Starship.
According to him, this engine reduces seals and joints in its design to prevent propellants from leaking and causing havoc. For the ship, SpaceX planned to conduct an in-space Raptor ignition, launch Starlink satellite simulators, and test the heatshield, among other objectives.
However, not only was the firm unable to launch the satellites but it also lost control of the ship during re-entry. The loss of control meant that Starship could not fly at angles necessary to test its heat shield.
Musk took to social media to share that despite the overall failure, the ship did make it to engine cutoff - a point in its profile where it had previously failed. He added that there was "no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent" and confirmed that leaks "caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase."
Crucially, while it took SpaceX more than two months to fly Starship Flight 9 after Flight 8, the executive shared that the launch cadence for the "next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks." SpaceX recently secured the FAA's approval to launch up to 25 flights a year from Texas, a significant upgrade over the previously authorized five missions per year. The higher cadence should allow the firm to rapidly test its rockets and achieve key objectives, including an in-space propellant transfer demonstration for NASA's lunar landing efforts.
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