SpaceX lost another Starship tank prototype during testing, but this time the explosion was intentional.
The firm pushed the limits of the giant tank using super-chilled nitrogen to see how well it would hold up during an actual launch.
During the cryogenic test, the massive structure beings to rupture, pops and collapses, disappearing into a giant cloud of nitrogen.
The test is just one of many SpaceX has been conducting at its Texas site to ensure its Starship rocket will one-day take humans to Mars and the moon.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has had quite the journey with the massive Starship rocket – multiple prototypes have burst into flames during testing.
Scroll down for video
SpaceX pushed the limits of the giant tank using super-chilled nitrogen to see how well it would hold up during an actual launch. During the cryogenic test, the massive structure beings to rupture, pops and collapses, disappearing into a giant cloud of nitrogen
However, he announced earlier this month that the rocket is the firm’s ‘top priority’ from now on.
In a company email, Musk urged SpaceX employees to accelerate progress on Starship ‘dramatically and immediately’, a week after its historic first crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The launch on May 30 successfully transported NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on a 19 hours journey to the International Space Station (ISS).
SpaceX conducted the latest tank test Tuesday, which was aimed at pushing the limits of the SN7 prototype until it failed.
The test is just one of many SpaceX has been conducting at its Texas site to ensure its Starship rocket will one-day take humans to Mars and the moon
Unlike the SN4 prototype that was unintentionally destroyed by a massive fireball, the recent test was to observe how the SN7 would hold super-cold propellant during launch
However, unlike the SN4 prototype that was unintentionally destroyed by a massive fireball, the recent test was to observe how the SN7 would hold super-cold propellant during launch, Space.com reported.
Musk was asked on Twitter earlier this month if this tank will be ‘tested to destruction’ and the billionaire simply responded, ‘yes.’
The firm conducted the first test of the SN7 Starship tank last week, but this event did not end in a cloud of nitrogen – something Musk called a ‘good result.’
‘We’re developing our own alloy to take this even further,’ he added. ‘Leak before burst is highly desirable.’
Musk was asked on Twitter earlier this month if this tank will be ‘tested to destruction’ and the billionaire simply responded, ‘yes’
The firm conducted the first test of the SN7 Starship tank last week, but this event did not end in a cloud of nitrogen – something Musk called a ‘good result’
But the firm’s fourth Starship rocket prototype was not so lucky last month.
The prototype Serial Number 4 vanished into a fireball at SpaceX’s Boca Chica site in Texas Friday shortly the engine was ignited for a pressurized test.
Starship, a rocket standing 394 feet tall, is designed to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond.
The SN4 had passed several important milestones during development, including a pressurization test that had foiled previous models.
But the firm’s fourth Starship rocket prototype was not so lucky last month. The prototype Serial Number 4 vanished into a fireball at SpaceX’s Boca Chica site in Texas Friday shortly the engine was ignited for a pressurized test (pictured)
Starship, a rocket standing 394 feet tall, is designed to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond
The massive rocket is SpaceX’s planned next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle, the center Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel affordable.
Musk envisages the Starship will operate much like a commercial airliner by transporting paying customers to the surface of the Moon and Mars.
Musk previously said the lifetime of each Starship will be around 20 to 30 years, ‘like an aircraft’.
Around three Starship flights will launch from Earth per day, or around 1,000 flights a year, and each will have a capacity of more than 90,000 pounds.
By continuously ferrying people the 180 million miles to Mars, Musk is predicting 1,000 human inhabitants by 2030 and ‘maybe around’ one million by 2050.