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With the next Starship test flight due to fly on Friday, SpaceX has shared additional details of what went wrong with Flight 7. According to the company, stronger-than-expected vibrations during flight led to a leak in the ship's propulsion system, which escalated into a fire, causing the Raptor engines to shut down. Crucially, SpaceX confirmed that all of the ship's safety systems performed as expected as they ensured that the ship was destroyed during the flight before it could violate its flight path and create significant safety hazards.
SpaceX Makes Upgrades To Starship To Avoid Flight 7 Mishap Repeat On Flight 8
After the Starship Flight 7 mishap in January, SpaceX and Elon Musk shared that a leak in the bottom or aft section of the rocket led to a fire which eventually resulted in the loss of ship. Now, as it confirms that Starship Flight 8 will fly on Friday, SpaceX has also shared several details about the faults that led to the loss of the ship during Flight 7.
According to the firm, while the upper stage Starship's six Raptor engines did ignite successfully after stage separation, there were two flashes in the rocket's aft section after lift-off. After the first flash, teams on ground detected higher than normal pressure near the Raptor vacuum engines. These engines are located at the center of the second stage of the Starship and are responsible for powering the ship through space.
After the first flash, a second flash occurred following which five of the six engines shut down as part of a controlled sequence, according to SpaceX. At this point, ground controllers also lost all communication with the ship, with the last telemetry data transmission having occurred at the eight minute and twenty second mark post lift-off.
SpaceX shared that the flashes were due to higher-than-expected vibrations during flight. Taking to X, the firm's director Starship engineering Shana Diez shared on X that "one of our design changes was the most likely thing that bit us here." To rectify the anomalies, SpaceX conducted a longer-than-usual Starship static fire earlier this month. The test included three separate hardware profiles in the Raptor engine's fuel lines to ensure that leaks and fires do not occur in the future.
Some changes stemming from the static fire on the upcoming Starship test flight on Friday involve the fuel lines, changes to the fuel temperature and the engines' thrust. Additionally, SpaceX will add new ventilation outlets and a new purge system to future Starships to avoid similar mishaps.
Starship Flight 8 is currently slated to fly on Friday, according to Elon Musk and fresh FAA air traffic notices. According to SpaceX, most of the ship's test objectives during Flight 7 will also be met on Flight 8. These include launching demonstration Starlink payloads, relighting a Raptor engine in space and testing the ship for a tower catch.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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