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Starship Flight 7

(www.spacex.com)
649 points chinathrow | 5 comments | 16 Jan 25 21:25 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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modeless ◴[16 Jan 25 22:46 UTC] No.42731863[source]▶
Oh no they lost the ship after the booster landed! Seems like they lost an engine, then I saw fire around the rear flap hinges in the last images before they cut out, and then the telemetry showed more engines shutting down until it froze.

During ascent I also noticed a panel near the front fins that seemed to be loose and flapping. Probably not related but who knows.

Edit: Here's a video of the aftermath. Strangely beautiful. https://x.com/deankolson87/status/1880026759133032662

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londons_explore ◴[16 Jan 25 23:06 UTC] No.42732066[source]▶
> fire around the rear flap hinges

I believe it's pretty hard to have a fire at that altitude. You need a leak of both methane and oxygen, and an ignition source.

I wonder if perhaps one of the engines split open and the exhaust wasn't going into the engine bell?

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1. pixl97 ◴[16 Jan 25 23:32 UTC] No.42732306[source]▶
I mean blowing liquid oxygen on something with a hot heat source beside it typically turns things to fuel you wouldn't expect. Like metal.
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2. modeless ◴[16 Jan 25 23:35 UTC] No.42732331[source]▶
Good point, must have been an O2 leak oxidizing random stuff.
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3. ◴[17 Jan 25 00:43 UTC] No.42732795[source]▶
4. londons_explore ◴[17 Jan 25 15:16 UTC] No.42738380[source]▶
At atmospheric pressure, yes.

But up at 140km altitude, the pressure is so low that I don't think even pure oxygen would lead to combustion.

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5. fooker ◴[17 Jan 25 17:34 UTC] No.42740894[source]▶
There are two huge tanks providing the pressure here.