SpaceX’s latest Starship test launch was its last for the foreseeable future. In the statement made by the FAA on Friday, it was announced that the investigation into the test that resulted in an explosion in April was closed, but SpaceX will not be allowed to continue test launches until it implements 63 “corrective actions” for the launch system.
“The vehicle’s structural margins look better than we expected,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joked with reporters after the test launch in late April. But that failed launch, with a huge debris field, where chunks of concrete ejected 800 feet from the launch pad, a 3.5-acre wildfire, and “up to 6.5 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of the launch site,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report. resulting in a cloud of pulverized concrete accumulating material.”
“Corrective actions include redesigning vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesigning the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporating additional reviews into the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety-critical systems and components, including the Autonomous Flight Safety System,” the FAA said in its statement. and implementing additional change control practices.” Additionally, the FAA says SpaceX will need to not only complete this list, but also apply for and receive a modification to its existing license that “meets all safety, environmental, and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch.”
SpaceX published a blog post indirectly addressing the issue shortly after the FAA’s announcement was made public. This article states that “numerous lessons have been learned from Starship’s first flight test,” and that the “rapid iterative development approach” has both helped develop all of SpaceX’s vehicles to this point and “has directly contributed to a variety of improvements to both vehicle and ground infrastructure.” is stated to have contributed.
Still, the company acknowledged that its Autonomous Flight Security System (AFSS), which is designed to self-destruct before a rocket goes out of flight path and hits the ground, suffered an unexpected 40-second delay. SpaceX did not elaborate on the cause (if any) of the failure, but reportedly “improved and recalibrated AFSS to improve system reliability.”
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