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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.