SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket launches from the company's Boca Chica launch pad on an uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, Nov. 18, 2023.
Joe Captain | Reuters
The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Monday the closure of its investigation together with SpaceX into the second Starship flight, while Elon Musk's company seeks a license to launch the imposing rocket again.
SpaceX led an FAA-supervised investigation into the Nov. 18 launch of a Starship prototype that reached space before being intentionally destroyed due to a problem with the rocket.
The FAA noted that SpaceX identified 17 corrective actions after the mishap.
“Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement all corrective actions and receive a license…The FAA is evaluating SpaceX's license modification request and expects SpaceX to submit the additional information required before a determination can be made. final,” the federal regulator said in a statement.
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SpaceX, in a post on its website on Monday, identified some of the problems that disrupted the second Starship launch.
All 33 engines of the “Super Heavy” booster ran as the rocket ascended. Shortly after the top of Starship separated from the booster, “several” of the engines “began to shut down.” Then, “an engine failed,” a process that “quickly cascaded” before the booster broke down, the company said.
Starship itself flew for several more minutes after separating from the booster. But SpaceX said “a leak” developed at the rear of the spacecraft when a fuel vent caused “a combustion event and subsequent fires,” severing the connection “between the spacecraft's flight computers” and shutting down Starship's six engines. The rocket's flight termination system was then activated, a standard safety feature on rockets as it destroys the vehicle if a problem arises or it veers off course.
The company emphasized that it has already made “changes to upcoming Starship vehicles” to resolve issues from the second test flight, with “upgrades” to the booster and Starship prototypes set to launch on the third test flight.
The 17 corrective actions following Starship's second flight also represent a marked improvement over the first, which required 63 corrective actions before the rocket launched again.
Musk said in a social media discussion last week that he expects the company to be ready to launch Starship's third test flight in mid-March, although the SpaceX CEO also said, shortly after the November launch, that the rocket of the third flight will be “ready to fly in three or four weeks.”
As noted by the FAA, the next launch is pending regulatory approval of a license.
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