But that didn't solve the problem. Again, the motors of Starship cut off too early and the rocket broke apart before it fell on the earth. SpaceX said that “an energetic event” in the rear part of the spaceship resulted in the loss of various Raptor engines, followed by a loss of posture control and a loss of communication with the ship.
The similarities between the two failures suggest a likely design problem with the improved “block 2” version of Starship, which debuted in January and flew again in March. Starship Block 2 is slightly larger than the ship space used on the first six flights of the rocket, with redesigned flaps, improved batteries and avionica, and in particular a new fuel feed system for the Raptor vacuum engines of the ship.
SpaceX did not release the results of the investigation into flight 8 -Mislukking and the FAA has not yet issued a launch license for flight 9. Similarly, SpaceX has not released any information about the changes it made in the Starship for next week's flight.
What we do know about the Starship vehicle for flight 9-designated Ship 35 is that it needed a few attempts to complete a test fire of the full duration. SpaceX completed a static fire brigade with one engine on 30 April and simulated the restart of a Raptor engine in the room. Subsequently demolished on 1 May, SpaceX broken off a test-firing of six engine before reaching the planned duration of 60 seconds. Videos recorded by media who observed the test showed a flash in the motor plume, and at least one piece of debris was seen from the flame channel under the ship.
SpaceX Ground Crews returned a few miles distance to the production location, perhaps to replace a damaged motor, before the Starship rolled back to the test standard on the weekend for the successful engine flying of Monday.
Now the ship goes back to the Starbase-Buildsite, where technicians will make the final preparations for flight 9. These last tasks can load the mock-up Starlink broad bands satellites in the Payload bay of the ship and touch the heat shield of the rocket.
These are two elements of the spaceship that SpaceXers would like to demonstrate on flight 9, except only solving the problems of the last two missions. Those failures prevented the starry implementation testing and a upgraded heat shield that is designed to better resist burning temperatures to 2,600 ° Fahrenheit (1,430 ° Celsius) during return.
