FAA's green light
The FAA confirmed on Friday that it issued a launch license earlier this week for Starship Flight 8.
“The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental and other licensees for the suborbital test flight,” said a spokesperson for FAA in a statement.
De federale toezichthouder hield toezicht op een door SpaceX geleide onderzoek naar het falen van vlucht 7. SpaceX zei dat NASA, de National Transportation Safety Board en de US Space Force ook deelnamen aan het onderzoek, dat vaststelde dat drijfgas lekt en branden in een achtervak of zolder, van sterrenschap, van het sterrenschap, van het sterrenschap, van het sterrenschap, van het sterrenschap, van sterrenschap, van sterrenschap, van sterrenschap, From the starry, from the starry, from the starhood, from the star, of the starry, of the starry, of the star, of the star, of the star, of star, of star, of star, of star, of star, of star, of star-up, led to the closure of the Engines and possibly break-up.
Engineers concluded that the leaks were most likely caused by a harmonic response several times stronger than predicted, which suggests that the vibrations during the ship's climb were resonance with the natural frequency of the vehicle. This would have further intensified the vibrations beyond the levels that the engineers have expected of basic tests.
Earlier this month, SpaceX completed a static fire of the extended duration of the next Starship-Bovenste Stadium to test hardware modifications at multiple push high levels. According to SpaceX, the findings of the static fire have informed changes in the fuel feed lines in the Raptormotoren of Starship, adjustments to floating temperatures and a new operational thrust for the next test flight.
“In order to tackle the flammability potential in the attic part over the spaceship, extra ventilation openings and a new flushing system with the help of gaseous nitrogen are added to the current generation of ships to make the area more robust for leakage of floating gas,” SpaceX said. “Future upgrades to Starship will introduce the Raptor 3 engine, reduce the attic volume and eliminate most joints that can leak in this volume.”
FAA officials were apparently satisfied with all this. The commercial space department of the agency has completed an “extensive safety assessment” and determined to be able to return the spaceship to flight activities, while the investigation into the failure of Flight 7 remains open. This is not new. The FAA also used this safety determination to accelerate the approvals of SpaceX launch last year, while civil servants investigated accidents on Starship and Falcon 9 Rocket Flights.
