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Musk attributed the explosion of the starship SN11 to a fuel leak.

Published :4/7/2021 6:19:32 AM

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Not long ago, the SpaceX starship prototype SN11 took off in Texas and flew at an altitude of 10 kilometers, but failed again on landing.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently posted on social platforms to explain that the explosion of SN11 fuel leaked.

Musk said, “A (relatively) small leak of methane caused the No. 2 engine to catch fire and burned out some avionics, causing the engine turbo pump pressure to be higher than expected and exploding during hard start.”

The explosion of SN11 is the fourth starship prototype that SpaceX exploded in high-altitude flight experiments after SN8, SN9, and SN10.

It is understood that some media said that some residents also picked up the debris of the explosion at 8.05 kilometers away from the launch site of SN11, which shows its power.

It is worth mentioning that Musk seems to want to skip SN12, SN13, and SN14 and start SN15 directly.

Musk announced on the social platform not long ago that SN15 will be launched within a few days.

SN15 has hundreds of design improvements in terms of structure, avionics, software, and engines. It is reported that SpaceX has completed the stacking work of SN15 in the early morning of April 3, Beijing time.

It is reported that SpaceX is developing a giant rocket booster called "Super Heavy" to help the SN series spacecraft into orbit.

Musk said that the first full-scale prototype of "Super Heavy" is called BN1, but this will be a test machine, and the experimental data obtained from it will be used in the design of BN2.

It is worth noting that recently, according to NASA news, SpaceX's third manned space mission has been confirmed, and it will fly to the space station for the third time on October 23.