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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed the potential cause behind the stunning explosion of the second-generation upper stage Starship rocket late at night in Texas yesterday. The explosion marked another failure for the new upper stage, which has yet to meet all its test objectives fully. SpaceX first flew the new upper stage on the Starship Flight 7 in January and then on Flight 8 in March. Both tests were failures for the ship as it failed to shut down its engines after separating from the first-stage Super Heavy booster. SpaceX marked some progress with Flight 9, and the ship could have flown on Flight 10 at the end of this month if it had not exploded yesterday.
SpaceX's Starship Could Have Exploded Due To Faulty Nitrogen Tank, Says Elon Musk
With Starship Flight 9, SpaceX marked some progress with the upper stage as the ship successfully shut down its engines and cruised into space before attempting atmospheric entry. However, the ship lost control at this point as SpaceX outlined that it would make an uncontrolled entry. As a result, SpaceX was unable to test Starship's heatshield, its control surfaces and hardware to eventually catch it with the launch tower for reusability.
SpaceX moved fast after Starship Flight 9 and tested the Super Heavy within days of Starship Flight 9. It then proceeded to fire a single engine on the second stage ship destined for Flight 10. This was a simulation of an in-space engine reignition, which SpaceX had skipped during Flight 9. After this test, SpaceX appeared to be prepping the rocket for a static fire test yesterday before it exploded in a massive fireball.
Commenting on the failure, Musk shared on social media that a COPV tank in the ship's cargo bay led to the explosion. COPVs, or composite overwrapped pressure vessels, are tanks filled with inert gasses that maintain pressure inside a rocket's tanks. This is because as the tanks expend fuel during flight, they risk collapsing on themselves. The COPVs prevent this from occurring by injecting inert gas into the tanks to maintain their pressure and prevent structural deformities.
According to Musk, "Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure." Footage of the explosion captured by local media had also shown fire emerging from the top of the rocket, where its payload bay is located. If the cause of failure on the ship did involve the COPVs, as Musk stated, then the fix should be easy and allow SpaceX to prepare a new vehicle for testing soon.
However, the primary delay for Flight 10 could be the damage to the ground testing facilities. The scale of the explosion caught on camera was immense, and SpaceX might have to use alternative testing sites for its ship static fires ahead of Flight 10.
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