Starhopper’s 1st test hop aborts
Capitalism in space: SpaceX’s first attempt to fly Starhopper untethered in a short vertical flight was aborted only a few seconds after engine ignition.
Video of the test is below the fold. The vehicle never leaves the ground, and there are flames visible near its top, something one should not see. Obviously this is a development program, so failures like this are to be expected. More significant is the speed in which the company is moving. It is only a week since their last StarHopper test, which also had issues. Rather than take years to move forward (like NASA), they are pushing forward aggressively.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX’s first attempt to fly Starhopper untethered in a short vertical flight was aborted only a few seconds after engine ignition.
Video of the test is below the fold. The vehicle never leaves the ground, and there are flames visible near its top, something one should not see. Obviously this is a development program, so failures like this are to be expected. More significant is the speed in which the company is moving. It is only a week since their last StarHopper test, which also had issues. Rather than take years to move forward (like NASA), they are pushing forward aggressively.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Fail quickly
To my untrained eye, it looks like the flames are from the cryogenic vent at the top of the Hopper. That must be the methane, right? I’m assuming venting LOX wouldn’t burn, but instead cause other things to burn.
I wonder if they burn the methane off deliberately to avoid accumulation near the ship. It looks like it was extinguished pretty quickly.
I’m not convinced the flame originating at the top of the rocket is evidence of a failure. I think the flame is due to depressurizing the fuel system in a safe and controlled fashion. This is speculation on my part, but if it was due to a failure significant enough to cause unwanted flames I don’t think they would contemplate a follow up attempt so quickly after.
I watched the test live on Tim Dodd’s channel “Everyday Astronaut” and you could hear SpaceX sent up a drone to record the event for their livestream. After they aborted the test the drone landed. Then a bit later it took off again leading me to believe they were attempting another test flight.
I don’t see this as a failure.
Word today is that the abort was due to fuel being chilled to a lower temperature than expected. They did fuel up for a second attempt, but did not resolve the problem in time. They will try again tonight.
The flame was from venting, so it’s not a failure of any type. They’re still learning how to handle methane as a fuel.
Also, in their livestream, SpaceX referred to the hopper as the “Starship Launch System” – SLS. Nice trolling.
Diane Wilson: Do you have a url to their live stream for tonight’s test?
Bob, I don’t know that they publicly post a URL for that. It will be in YouTube, but a quick check there didn’t find it as listed as a video, or in their subscriber channel. (I don’t do YouTube subscriptions, so it might be available to subscribers only.)
I found it last night in a NASASpaceFlight.com forum, https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=47729.0
. The YouTube link got posted there shortly before the test, maybe five minutes or so. Keep refreshing the last page of the forum. There are other livestreams, one from Everyday Astronaut – he chatters too much for me, but he’ll have the stream running all evening, and that is available in YouTube.
Last night’s livestream, if that helps pin down where to look in YouTube…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqUSRBJPYUE#action=share
The flames were from a vent stack off to the side of the launch pad. The angle of the camera makes it appear as it is coming from the top.