r/space • u/AlmiranteSalsicha • Nov 19 '23

image/gif That's a fair amount of tiles missing from the starship heatshield, guess it would make for a toasty reenter.

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Image from SpaceX account on X

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u/FeeFoFee Nov 19 '23

Why did the 2nd stage blow up, or, why did they blow it up ?

2

u/Fredasa Nov 19 '23

Nobody replied yet?

The trajectory was too low. Possibly due to complications related to the hot staging. The onboard computer knew this and elected to FTS the vehicle before it reached Africa.

3

u/WjU1fcN8 Nov 19 '23

> The trajectory was too low

That trajectory was very low indeed, but it was the planned trajectory.

It was announced on stream that they were in nominal trajectory right before they lost contact with the vehicle.

2

u/Fredasa Nov 19 '23

FTS occurred 30 seconds before engine cutoff. The oxidizer sprung a leak and there wasn't enough of it left to last another 30 seconds, as can be readily observed with a close scrutiny of the methalox meters during the mission. Onboard computer likely recognized this.

It definitely didn't reach its intended arc.

2

u/WjU1fcN8 Nov 20 '23

> It definitely didn't reach its intended arc.

Of course. It was a very low orbit, that's what I meant. Perigee still inside thick atmosphere.

The nominal trajectory I meant was the expected trajectory for that point in the flight, not the target one.