A SpaceX testing stand on the firm’s McGregor, Texas services went up in flames throughout a take a look at of its Raptor 2 engines on the afternoon of Might 23. In accordance with NASASpaceflight, the engine had an anomaly that prompted vapors to seep out and result in a secondary explosion. The information group’s livestream confirmed the engine shutting down earlier than the fireplace began and ultimately swallowed the stand in flames and smoke.
SpaceX makes use of the Raptor engines for its Starship system’s Tremendous Heavy booster and upper-stage spacecraft. They use liquid methane and liquid oxygen as gas, they usually had been designed to be highly effective sufficient to have the ability to ship Starship to the moon and Mars. As Gizmodo suggests, its gases mixing resulting from a leak or an analogous anomaly might’ve prompted the explosion, although SpaceX has but to formally handle what occurred throughout testing.
The corporate is at present getting ready for Starship’s fourth take a look at flight, which is scheduled to happen on June 5, pending regulatory approval and barring poor climate or different elements that would delay the launch. This explosion seemingly would not have an effect on the flight’s launch window. SpaceX’s major objectives for the fourth take a look at flight are to ensure that the Tremendous Heavy booster will get a tender splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico and to realize a managed entry of the Starship spacecraft. The corporate mentioned it made a number of {hardware} and software program upgrades to include what it realized from its third flight take a look at. Starship’s higher stage reached house throughout that flight, however it burned up within the ambiance upon reentry, whereas its Tremendous Heavy booster broke aside within the last phases of its descent as a substitute of softly splashing down into the ocean.