SpaceX’s latest Starship test launch was its last for the foreseeable future. The FAA announced Friday that it has closed its investigation into April’s mishap, but that the company will not be allowed to resume test launches until it addresses a list of 63 “corrective actions” for its launch system.
“The vehicle’s structural margins appear to be better than we expected,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joked with reporters in the wake of the late April test launch. Per the a report from the US Fish and WIldlife Service, however, the failed launch resulted in a 385-acre debris field that saw concrete chunks flung more than 2,600 feet from the launchpad, a 3.5-acre wildfire and ”a plume cloud of pulverized concrete that deposited material up to 6.5 miles northwest of the pad site.”
“Corrective actions include redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional…
2023-09-08 12:48:25
Original from www.engadget.com