SpaceX Starship integrated flight test 3

Last updated

Starship integrated flight test 3
Video of Starship in flight during IFT-3
Mission type Flight test
Operator SpaceX
Mission duration49 minutes, 35 seconds (achieved) [1]
1 hour, 4 minutes, 39 seconds (planned)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftStarship S28, Super Heavy B10
Start of mission
Launch dateMarch 14, 2024, 13:25:00 (2024-03-14UTC13:25) UTC
Rocket Starship
Launch site Starbase
Contractor SpaceX
End of mission
DestroyedMarch 14, 2024, 14:14:35 UTC [1]
Orbital parameters
Regime Suborbital (achieved) [1]
Transatmospheric Earth orbit (planned) [1]
Periapsis altitude <50 km (achieved) [1]
50 km (31 mi) (planned) [1]
Apoapsis altitude 234 km (145 mi) (achieved) [1]
235 km (146 mi) (planned) [2]
Inclination 26.5° [1]
  IFT-2
IFT-4  
 

SpaceX Starship integrated flight test 3 (IFT-3) was the third integrated flight test of the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. SpaceX performed the flight test on March 14, 2024. [3] [4]

Contents

Starship successfully completed a full-duration second stage burn, reaching the intended orbital velocity for the first time, but broke up during re-entry in the atmosphere. [4] [5] [6]

Background

Changes from the previous flight

After the second test flight in November 2023 ended in the destruction of both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, 17 significant changes were made to the vehicles, including upgrading the ship to an electric thrust vector control (TVC) system [7] [ failed verification ] (the booster had been upgraded for IFT-2 [8] ) and delaying the vent of liquid oxygen (LOX) to after Starship engine cutoff (SECO). [7]

SpaceX upgraded the orbital tank farm with additional subcoolers and pumps to increase the propellant flow rate. In addition, two water tanks were removed and scrapped. Steel plates have been added to concrete at the base of the launch tower due to erosion from the engines. A concrete wall has replaced the HESCO barriers previously protecting the tank farm. [9]

Development prior to launch

Testing of the Flight 3 vehicles began just under a month after IFT-2, [10] [11] with S28 and B10 undergoing their individual static fire tests in late December 2023. [12] [13] The FAA closed its mishap investigation of the IFT-2 launch on February 26, 2024. In the mishap report, SpaceX identified 17 corrective actions, of which ten were for the Starship upper stage and seven for the Super Heavy booster. [14] Booster 10 and S28 conducted a wet dress rehearsal on March 3rd, 2024. [15] On March 5, 2024, SpaceX announced that they were targeting a launch date of March 14, 2024, pending regulatory approval. [16] [17] On March 13, 2024, the FAA granted the launch license for IFT-3. [18]

Flight profile

IFT-3 launched from the SpaceX Starbase facility along the South Texas coast around 8:25 CDT. As with IFT-2, ignition of all 33 booster engines and stage separation were both successful. [19] B10 conducted a boostback burn. However, 6 engines began shutting down unexpectedly causing a premature boostback shutdown; the planned landing in the Gulf of Mexico was not successful due to the same six engines that failed before being disabled leaving seven engines commanded to startup with two successfully reaching ignition. Following the failures, SpaceX reported that the booster was destroyed at an estimated altitude of approximately 462 metres (1,516 ft). [3] The cause of these failures was determined by SpaceX to be filter blockage of liquid oxygen to the engines. A similar problem occurred in IFT-2, leading Booster 10 to get upgraded filtering. [20]

The Starship spacecraft itself reached space and the intended orbital velocity. It then conducted several tests after engine cutoff, including a successful propellant transfer demo and payload dispenser test. It attempted to re-enter the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, and at an altitude of around 65 km, all telemetry from Ship 28 stopped, indicating a loss of the vehicle. [21] [22] [4] According to SpaceX, S28 was experiencing excessive roll rates causing it to have an "off-nominal entry". This was caused by clogging of the valves responsible for roll control on Starship. [20]

Mission timeline [23]
TimeEventMarch 14, 2024
−01:15:00SpaceX Flight Director conducts a poll and verifies go for propellant loadingSuccess
−00:53:00Starship oxidizer loading (liquid oxygen) underwaySuccess
−00:51:00Starship fuel loading (liquid methane) underwaySuccess
−00:42:00Super Heavy oxidizer loading (liquid oxygen) underwaySuccess
−00:41:00Super Heavy fuel loading (liquid methane) underwaySuccess
−00:19:40Booster engine chillSuccess
−00:03:30Booster propellant load completeSuccess
−00:02:50Ship propellant load completeSuccess
−00:00:30SpaceX flight director verifies GO for launchSuccess
−00:00:10Flame deflector activationSuccess
−00:00:03Booster engine ignitionSuccess
00:00:02LiftoffSuccess
00:00:52 Max q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)Success
00:02:42Booster most engines cutoff (MECO)Success
00:02:44Starship engine ignition and stage separation (hot-staging)Success
00:02:55Booster boostback burn startupSuccess
00:03:50Booster boostback burn shutdown6 engines shut down due to LOX filter blockage, causing the burn to end prematurely [20]
00:06:36Booster is transonicAchieved later than planned due to off nominal trajectory caused by early boostback shutdown [20]
00:06:46Booster landing burn startup7 engines commanded to start with only 2 igniting [20]
00:07:04Booster landing burn shutdownLoss of telemetry from booster at approximately 462 metres (1,516 ft) [20]
00:08:35Starship engine cutoff (SECO)Success
00:11:56Payload door openSuccess [20]
00:24:31Propellant transfer demoSuccess [20]
00:28:21Payload door closeSuccess [20]
00:40:46Raptor in-space relight demoSkipped due to loss of roll control [20]
00:49:05Starship entryStuck roll control valve during coast phase resulted in loss of control and vehicle telemetry was lost at an altitude of 65 km (40 mi) [20]
01:02:16Starship is transonic
01:03:04Starship is subsonic
01:04:39Starship splashdown

Aftermath

After the launch, SpaceX confirmed that Super Heavy was destroyed at 462 m above sea level over the Gulf of Mexico. [3] The status of the payload door test became one of the focuses of unofficial interpretations of the flight in YouTube and news articles, due to a perceived issue seen from the flight video concerning the payload door. SpaceX's account of the launch states that the payload test had been a success. [20]

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said the company was still investigating the data and what went wrong in IFT-3, but that IFT-4 could launch soon, possibly by early May. [24]

NASA chief Bill Nelson praised SpaceX for "a successful test flight". He also stated, "Today we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon - then look onward to Mars." SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk also praised the team and stated "Starship will take humanity to Mars." [25]

On March 14, 2024, the FAA declared that a mishap had occurred involving both the upper stage and booster, triggering the start of a SpaceX-led investigation overseen by the FAA. [26] The agency's associate administrator for commercial space transportation, Kelvin Coleman, said on March 18 that he did not anticipate any major issues that could delay the investigation. Additionally, there was talk for the FAA to begin issuing a "portfolio of launches", authorizing multiple launches rather than a single launch at a time, as part of a broader effort to streamline the launch license process in response to criticism from SpaceX and Congress that the FAA was moving too slow on approving them. [27] The next launch license will likely require modification, but Coleman said the FAA may be able to first complete a public safety determination, finding that there were no flaws in critical safety systems on the March launch that would have endangered the safety of the uninvolved public. If so, “that would decouple the mishap investigation from the license modification, and that means that we could get the license modification done while the mishap investigation is ongoing.” [28] However, both are still needed in order for a launch license to be granted. [29]

On April 5, SpaceX requested that the FAA agree that the IFT-3 mishap did not present a public safety issue. [30] On May 11th, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated that the fourth Starship launch could occur in 3-5 weeks, bringing the date forward to early-mid June. The FAA investigation and launch license remained pending. [31] On May 17, the FAA made a statement that if the FAA agrees no public safety issues were involved in the mishap, SpaceX may return to flight while the IFT-3 investigation remains open, provided all other license requirements are met. [32] This statement does not constitute SpaceX being granted a Launch License. [32]

On May 24, SpaceX released a blog post stating the results from flight 3. According to SpaceX, during the boostback burn, 6 engines began to shut down, causing an early boostback shutdown. The vehicle prevented these engines from performing the landing burn, leaving only 7 engines. 2 of the engines were able to successfully ignite. The vehicle had lower than expected thrust, and it was lost at an altitude of 462 meters. The main likely cause of the boostback shutdown was due to filter blockage in the liquid oxygen intake, leading to loss of pressure in the oxygen turbopumps. According to SpaceX, several minutes after the ship engine cutoff (SECO), the valves responsible for the roll control thrusters were clogged. This precluded the in flight raptor relight test. Due to the unplanned roll, the ship experienced much higher heat loads in both unprotected and tiled sections.

In order to mitigate these issues, SpaceX has implemented hardware changes to the booster liquid oxygen tank to improve propellant filtration. SpaceX has also added more roll control thrusters on the ship for redundancy. Additionally, hardware and software changes were implemented to improve Raptor startup reliability. [20]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX launch vehicles</span> Launch vehicles developed and operated by SpaceX

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX reusable launch system development program</span> Effort by SpaceX to make rockets that can fly multiple times

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