SpaceX has been working on its starships to be able to take humans and cargo to Mars. But till now, they haven’t been successful in the landing part. The SN8 and the SN9 they have tested were able to do everything except land back correctly, as both of them crashed while doing so. So, there are high hopes for SpaceX’s SN10 Starship. Elon Musk said a while back that the SN10 has a 60% chance of landing. This is a good statistic and makes me really positive about the test flight launch.
Crash of the SN8 and SN9
The SN8 and the SN9 both crashed while landing. And there might be different reasons for that, according to the officials. During the SN8 launch, the starship rose to heights and was doing pretty well. It also performed a belly flip in the middle of the sky and showed the engineering capabilities of SpaceX. But while landing, the spaceship wasn’t able to make it, and there was a catastrophic explosion. Shortly after the crash, Elon said that the possible reason for this crash was the low pressure in the Starship fuel tank.
On the other hand, the SN9 starship also had a similar story. All went well till the pre-flight testing and the majority of the test-flight. The lateral entry in the Earth’s atmosphere was done well, and also the belly flip. But while landing back, all the thrusters didn’t light back up, and the Starship wasn’t able to descent with a slow speed which resulted in a crash. After this, the principal integration engineer of Space said, “Again, we’ve just got to work on that landing a little bit.” He even added that the launch was great for the majority part, and they have learned a lot from it.
SpaceX’s SN10 Starship
The FAA has closed its investigation on the SN8 and the SN9 Starships. This meant that the company could soon get the launch license for the SN10. On Monday, it was confirmed that the company got the launch license from the FAA, and hence we can expect the launch very soon. This was even confirmed by Elon Musk himself, who replied to a person on Twitter saying, “Good chance of flying this week!”.
Good chance of flying this week!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 21, 2021
If the SN10 starship is able to land properly, or at least do better than its previous versions then we can expect great things in the future. As said by SpaceX, once the Starship is ready we are going to Mars. As of now the target date for that is between 2024-26, and that is not much far away. But I think even if the Starship lands properly, the company will have to repeatedly-check the landing capabilities of the Starship in upcoming launches.
What are your thoughts on SpaceX’s SN10 starship launch? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative do like it and share it with your friends.
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