SpaceX Starship prototype explodes during pressure testing

[Judi Lynn]

By Mike Wehner @MikeWehner
April 3rd, 2020 at 8:08 PM

One of SpaceX’s shiny Starship prototypes suffered a complete meltdown early this morning during a pressure test. The result was what appeared to be the total destruction of the Starship SN3 prototype as it completely collapsed into a crumpled pile of twisted metal. The event, which was captured by observers, is kind of neat to watch, but it obviously isn’t what SpaceX had in mind.

The exact cause of the prototype failure will have to be investigated by SpaceX, but shortly after the machine blew its top, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to offer his own predictions for what may have gone wrong.

Musk doesn’t get into the specifics, saying that the crew “will see what data review says in the morning,” however he does note that the failure “may have been a test configuration mistake.” That doesn’t tell us a whole lot, but the company has never been shy about its shortcomings during testing so we can expect to hear more about it sooner rather than later.

Link to tweet

More:
https://bgr.com/2020/04/03/spacex-starship-explosion-pressure-test/

[pansypoo53219]

1. cone shape better than a tube.