SPACEX STARSHIP IFT3 Post Mortem

In the early morning hours of March 14, 2024, SpaceX launched Starship 28 and Booster 10. We take a deep dive on both the launch results, and the commentary.

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[gasgaslex_photos]

I miss the Apollo era announcers who had intelligence and gravitas in their voices when they covered Apollo launchers plus they often had retired Apollo astronauts like Shirra commentating without sounding like sycophants

[TheHunterGracchus]

By the standards of SpaceX announcers, the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs made a successful splash-down off Yucatan, Mexico.

[markifi]

I also often "initiate commands" to open a garage door. Can I please have a 3 bil NASA contract?

[andrewnelson]

My engineering analysis of IFT3

First off, I would like to say that you say my post about the door opening to the cargo area causing it to act like a reaction thruster. The torque from the door opening, didn't just cause the spacecraft to rotate, but also to spin. Meaning that the door had open unevenly. What this means is the door was running in a guide rail and became slanted. Which lead to it become stuck open. This explains why the door had a hard time opening it was grinding against its guide rail. The ship would not of spend if the door had open evenly. The reason for the door becoming slanted is that the two hydraulic pistons are moving at different rates. Which leaves one side of the door to move faster down than the other. Given the rotation of the spacecraft I would have to say that the left side more open than the right. Given that your orientation is looking at the top of the spacecraft with the note pointed up.


The next thing that I can explain is why they canceled the propellant transfer test. The reason is the head LOX tank, does not hold fuel for the main engines. Instead, it holds the fuel for the reaction thrusters. That's why you don't see the test performed. They need to fuel in order to counter the out-of-control rotation of the spacecraft. The reason why they were not able though to stop the spinning seems to be a lack of reaction thrusters to counter spinning of the spacecraft. That why the LOX main tank reading did not go up.

The door being open also cause another problem. You see because it is now a vacuum chamber, it pulls in air when it hits the atmosphere. This leads to the actual spacecraft thing up which cause the plasma form hitting the atmosphere pour into the rocket engine compartment. This leads to an out-of-control rotation in the opposite direction. Which causes the actual head to dive nose first into the atmosphere without the thermal protection tiles.

[acefighterpilot]

As you watch Starship after Starship blow up, keep something in mind: 15 Saturn Vs were launched in the '60s and '70s. Zero of them blew up. 14 were comprehensive mission successes.

[salland]

Was going to re-watch it earlier this day but i couldn't find it. Good to see it re-uploaded.

[rhobot]

Hi, CSS, please do not get rid of the music. It is great and adds a lot. I do appreciate the sensitive mixing in that it is not louder than your narration, and part of the background except where it is the star of the moment as intro or transitions. Some people must, the one person, by their comment on every one of your videos about it hate most of you tube and the entertainment world. Actually, now that I write, they seem to not understand this is entertainment, not 8:30AM undergrad lecture. Anyway, anyone griping about music has an attention issue no one can help them resolve. They should spend that 5 seconds to find the You Tube equalizer control. And they also might not enjoy the peace of the Premium subscription, no constant ad intrusions and, access to the equalizer. Anyway... 2 cents in favor of the great loops.

[williamcat]

All this can be explained by Elmo having a ketamine dream while watching flash gordon..

[fldigger]

Where does Kathy Leuders work now? Oh yeah, SpaceX!! She needs to be subject of a DOJ investigation.

[Jay-fwuc]

Just for comparison, the Apollo 4 i.f.t. was testing all new technology of a 3 stage vehicle under extreme pressure. At the last minute Nasa decided to conduct an all ups test of all man rated stages. The rocket performed flawlessly. Starship is throwing away 40 engines per flight.

[christopherbiomass]

They have really taken "Move fast and break things" to heart.

[WumboJumbo]

The first humans to step aboard Starship will be the bravest astronauts in history.

P.S. The salty Muskrat that falsely copyright claimed the original upload can go cry in a corner.

[MaFdn]

If NASA performed this way man would never have gotten to the moon to begin with. What a different world it would be.

[Nick-dgpd]

The fact that they make false call outs while also showing proof that they're blatantly lying is so unreal. They're clearly not ready to take on any mission

[testboga]

At least the "artificial gravity by spinning" demo was successful 😁

[jitteryjet]

Something I noticed later was Ship was not going to do a retro burn to test reigniting the space-Raptors, it was going to a perigee-raising burn (presumably for safety reasons). The problem was Ship was around 180 degrees out of alignment for a perigee-raising burn, if you consider the overlay accurate. If you play Kerbal Space Program, Ship was pointing retrograde instead of prograde.

[Chris.Davies]

If SpaceX want to become successful, they could adjust their mission goals:
1) Blow up both ships!
2) Ensure turbopumped engines can't relight safely - or have enough fuel.
3) Roll craft randomly after SECO.
4) Vent a lot of fuel and oxidiser into space,
5) Demonstrate requirement for actual RCS thrusters.
6) Demonstrate ass-first re-entry to test engine bell nozzle robustness.
7) Demonstrate roll during re-entry to test stainless steel resistance to plasma.
8) Demonstrate lack of attitude and roll control using fins.
9) Demonstrate lack of deceleration using fins and belly flop.
10) Ensure no hardware is recoverable.

[hgm]

Even as a non-US tax payer, I still get annoyed about Musk's waste and incompetence

[jodierye]

How is this ship going to carry 100 tonns of cargo if it runs out of fuel just getting to Leo empty.

[todhagan]

Superb! This video is just superb. There is nobody who combs through the footage of these events as meticulously and then presents their conclusions as clearly.
Tony Bella's graphics make great scoresheets to show the Starship program failures.
Thank you for highlighting the Tweet from PebMets comparing the number of engines used between the Shuttle and Starship.