SpaceX has identified why its Starship super heavy rocket exploded during a test flight last month.
On 16 January, Starship lifted off from a launchpad in Texas and all 33 of its Raptor engines started up successfully. But after several minutes of flight time the upper stage dramatically broke up and disintegrated over Caribbean airspace, forcing several planned flights to alter their course to avoid falling debris.
SpaceX said the “most probable root cause” for the failure was identified as a harmonic response several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system.
“The subsequent propellant leaks exceeded the venting capability of the ship’s attic area and resulted in sustained fires,” it said in a blog post.
The debris resulting from the explosion fell within the pre-planned area. The firm said there were no hazardous materials present in the debris and no significant impacts were expected to occur to marine...