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SpaceX Starship breaks up over Indian Ocean in latest bumpy test (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 month ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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Another SpaceX Starship prototype broke up over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping the latest bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of colonising Mars.

The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off at 6.36pm local time from the company’s facility near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city also named Starbase.

The first signs of trouble emerged when the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

A live feed then showed the upper-stage spaceship failing to open its doors to deploy a payload of Starlink satellite “simulators”.

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The problem I have with the Starship concept is the fact that it is designed to carry the landing fuel onboard because it cannot land any other way. If it could glide down rather than thruster down, then maybe it wouldn't need to test the limits of physics.

Alternatively, if the thrusters are required for Mars and Lunar landing and take off, why not make an orbital dock and deploy the Starships there instead? It just seems like Space-X chose the flashiest and least efficient way to tackle the problem.

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

You are totally spot on. In trying to make starship doing everything, it turns out to do nothing particularly well. Sending up this much mass for so many of these failed tests is a total waste, and could’ve been better spent on an orbital dock.

SpaceX is doomed to fail because they’re barred from considering any planning or design that isn’t centered on ‘make Elon the first man on Mars.’ building the docks and infrastructure would extend the timeline into Elon’s old age, so they’re not acceptable for consideration.