SpaceX's Massive Rocket Explodes Due to Rapid Unscheduled Digging

Summary

SpaceX 最大火箭 Starship 的首次发射吸引了广泛关注。尽管火箭未能进入太空，但其发射、上升和最终解体过程提供了大量数据用于分析改进。发射过程中，火箭的底座阶段零出现了问题，导致混凝土破裂。火箭在升空过程中遭遇多发引擎故障，影响了其轨迹和性能。最终，由于结构失效，火箭在达到最高点后未能按计划分离，而是开始失控旋转并坠入墨西哥湾。这次发射虽然失败，但为 SpaceX 提供了宝贵的经验和数据，以便未来改进和继续探索太空。

Takeaways

• 🚀 SpaceX 发射了有史以来最大的火箭，尽管没有进入太空，但挖掘深度超过了大多数火箭。
• 🎉 人们期待 Starship 的首次发射已经超过一年，尽管不知道具体的兴奋点，但发射时的激动是确定的。
• 🤔 火箭在发射、上升和最终解体过程中，工作人员获得了大量遥测数据，希望下次能做得更好。
• 🛠️ 阶段零（stage zero）是关注重点，它负责将火箭垂直保持、加注燃料，并理论上会捕捉火箭，但目前存在问题。
• 💥 发射台下方的混凝土在火箭发射的力量下破裂，这是一个需要解决的大问题。
• 🌪️ 火箭发射时底部的尘埃、沙子和碎片被吹到空中，影响了地面设备和当地居民。
• 🔥 火箭在起飞时缺少引擎，导致发射初期就出现问题。
• 📉 引擎的连续失败导致火箭的加速受到影响，影响了火箭的轨迹和最高速度。
• 🚫 火箭的空气动力学不稳定，缺乏足够的推力控制，导致了无法控制的俯仰振荡。
• 💥 火箭在返回地球的过程中经历了第二次最大气动压力（Max Q）事件，可能导致结构故障。
• 🌊 火箭残骸落在墨西哥湾，深度约150英尺，对潜水打捞提出了挑战。

Q & A

SpaceX发射的火箭名称是什么？

发射的火箭名称是Starship。

这次发射是否成功进入了太空？

这次发射并没有成功进入太空。

Starship火箭发射的主要问题是什么？

Starship火箭发射的主要问题是阶段零（stage zero）的问题，包括发射台下方的混凝土破裂和火箭发动机的故障。

发射过程中火箭出现了哪些异常？

发射过程中火箭出现了发动机丢失、推进剂泄漏、火箭结构弯曲等异常。

火箭发射后的最大速度是多少？

火箭发射后的最大速度约为2150公里每小时。

火箭发射后达到了什么样的最高点？

火箭发射后达到了大约39公里的最高点，远低于计划的分离高度。

火箭发射失败后，SpaceX团队将关注哪些方面？

SpaceX团队将关注阶段零的问题，包括发射台的改进和火箭发动机的故障分析。

火箭发射失败后，碎片主要落在了哪里？

火箭发射失败后，碎片主要落在了墨西哥湾。

火箭发射失败的原因是什么？

火箭发射失败的原因可能包括发射台下的混凝土破裂、发动机故障、液压系统失效以及火箭气动不稳定性等。

火箭发射失败后，SpaceX团队有哪些后续工作？

SpaceX团队将分析收集到的数据，修复问题，并准备下一次的发射测试。

火箭发射失败对SpaceX团队意味着什么？

火箭发射失败对SpaceX团队意味着他们需要从失败中学习，找出问题所在，并进行必要的改进和修复，以便未来的发射能够成功。

Outlines

00:00

🚀 SpaceX Starship 火箭发射失败分析

本段落主要分析了SpaceX的Starship火箭发射过程中出现的问题。Starship火箭在发射后不久就遭遇了失败，但这次失败为SpaceX提供了大量宝贵的数据和经验。分析指出，发射台的混凝土在火箭发射的巨大推力下破裂，导致火箭发射初期就出现了问题。同时，火箭在升空过程中丢失了多个发动机，这影响了火箭的加速能力和轨迹。最终，火箭在空中解体，坠入墨西哥湾。尽管发生了失败，但SpaceX团队可以从这次事件中学习并改进未来的发射。

05:01

🌪️ Starship 火箭发射中的气动不稳定性

这一段讨论了Starship火箭在发射过程中遇到的气动不稳定性问题。火箭在达到最大动压（Max Q）时，由于推力不足，未能按计划轨迹飞行，而是以一个角度飞行，表明火箭可能无法控制自己的姿态。分析指出，火箭的气动设计使得其在没有控制的情况下容易翻转，而发动机的失效进一步加剧了这一问题。火箭在失去控制后开始旋转，最终导致结构性故障并在空中解体。此外，还提到了火箭在分离阶段的问题，以及火箭残骸可能的落点。

10:02

🎶 视频结尾与祝福

视频的最后部分以音乐结束，并对Scott Manley及SpaceX团队表达了祝福和鼓励。尽管发射失败，但对他们的工作表示了肯定，并期待他们能够从这次经历中学习和进步，继续进行后续的测试和发射工作。

Keywords

💡SpaceX

SpaceX是一家美国的航天制造商和太空运输服务公司，由埃隆·马斯克于2002年创立。在视频中，SpaceX发射了迄今为止最大的火箭，即星际飞船（Starship），尽管它没有进入太空，但这次发射仍然引起了广泛关注。

💡Starship

Starship是SpaceX正在开发的一款重型运载火箭，旨在实现人类长期居住在其他行星，如火星的目标。视频中提到的Starship在发射过程中出现了问题，但即便如此，它仍然为SpaceX提供了宝贵的数据和经验。

💡telemetry

遥测技术是指从远处的物体，如火箭，传输测量数据的技术。在视频中，SpaceX的工作人员通过遥测数据来分析火箭的性能和问题，以便在未来的发射中进行改进。

💡stage zero

在火箭发射中，stage zero指的是火箭发射前的准备阶段，包括将火箭垂直放置、加注燃料等。视频中提到，SpaceX在stage zero阶段遇到了问题，即发射台下的混凝土在火箭发射的力量下破裂。

💡concrete

混凝土是一种广泛使用的人造建筑材料，由水泥、骨料、水和其他成分混合而成。在视频中，发射台下的混凝土在火箭发射的巨大力量下破裂，导致火箭发射时出现了问题。

💡engine failure

发动机故障是指火箭发动机在飞行过程中出现的问题，导致其无法正常工作。在视频中，Starship在发射过程中遭遇了发动机故障，影响了火箭的飞行轨迹和性能。

💡trajectory

轨迹是指物体在空间中移动的路径。在视频中，由于发动机故障和其他问题，Starship的轨迹受到了影响，未能按照预定的飞行计划进行。

💡aerodynamic instability

气动不稳定性是指物体在飞行过程中由于气动设计问题而难以保持稳定飞行的现象。在视频中，由于火箭前端的气动装置，Starship在失去控制时表现出气动不稳定性，导致火箭无法保持直线飞行。

💡flight termination system

飞行终止系统是一种安全措施，用于在火箭出现严重问题时远程控制火箭自毁，以防止对地面造成损害。在视频中，由于Starship出现了无法恢复的问题，飞行终止系统被激活。

💡Max Q

最大动压（Max Q）是指火箭在大气中飞行时所承受的最大气动压力点。在视频中，Starship在达到最大动压时比预定的时间晚，这表明火箭的轨迹和性能受到了影响。

💡apogee

远地点（apogee）是指物体沿椭圆形轨道运行时距离地球最远的点。在视频中，Starship的远地点大约为39公里，远低于计划的分离高度。

Highlights

SpaceX 发射了有史以来最大的火箭 Starship，尽管没有进入太空，但挖掘深度超过其他大多数火箭。

人们期待 Starship 的首次发射已经超过一年，当倒计时归零时，兴奋是保证的，只是不确定兴奋的具体部分。

Starship 火箭在墨西哥湾上空爆炸，尽管观察者在场边欣赏了发射、上升和最终解体，但工作人员可能获得了大量遥测数据。

发射过程中，火箭的底座阶段零出现了问题，混凝土在引擎下方破裂。

SpaceX 尝试避免使用火焰偏转器或水抑制系统，因为如果火箭要在火星上着陆并从火星起飞，可能没有这样的选择。

火箭发射初期，底部的尘埃、沙子和碎混凝土被引擎扬起，影响了地面设备和火箭本身。

火箭在起飞时缺少引擎，导致发射轨迹受到影响，火箭首先在 Max Q 点出现较晚。

火箭的气动不稳定性导致控制问题，需要引擎的摆动来保持火箭指向正确方向。

火箭在达到顶点时无法继续加速，速度约为 2150 公里/小时，顶点高度约为 39 公里，远低于计划的分离高度。

火箭在返回地球时加速，遇到第二次 Max Q 事件，可能导致结构故障。

FAA 确认激活了火箭的轻终端系统，但在此之前火箭已经出现故障。

火箭最终在 31 公里的高度解体，Starship 的飞行终止系统被激活，碎片落在墨西哥湾。

通过闪电探测器和天气卫星的数据，可以大致确定火箭解体的位置。

碎片可能落在约 150 英尺深的水域，对潜水员来说，这是一个技术潜水的挑战。

SpaceX 团队面对的挑战是，阶段零需要一些严肃的土木工程来解决问题。

尽管火箭发射失败，SpaceX 团队仍有很多工作要做，他们对这次发射获得的数据感到兴奋。

Transcripts

foreign

Scott Manley here yesterday is SpaceX

launched the biggest rocket ever it

didn't go to space but it did dig deeper

than most other Rockets do yeah we've

been anticipating the debut launch of

Starship for over a year and we knew

that once the countdown hit zero

excitement was guaranteed we just didn't

know exactly what part of that

excitement would take for reference this

is my authentic reaction to watching

this event yesterday

it's moving holy it's going

I did not expect that

so I had been at a pretty amazing event

for the last few days but it wasn't

spectacular in the same way that the

largest rocket ever exploding over the

Gulf of Mexico could be so while we as

observers on the sidelines got to take

in the launch ascent and eventual

breakup of this massive piece of work

the people actually working on it they

presumably came away with a metric crap

ton of telemetry and data that they can

hopefully analyze to make things better

next time and I think the first thing

that they're gonna need to have a look

at is stage zero so stage zero holds the

rocket vertical it fuels it in theory it

will ultimately catch it but in its

current form they have had issues with

the concrete underneath the engines

basically breaking under the force it's

common for launch systems to include

Flame diverters or water suppression

systems to protect the rocket and the

launch infrastructure but the thing is

if you are trying to build a rocket

which could say land on Mars and take

off from Mars you may not have that

option and SpaceX had been well

aspirationally trying to avoid doing

this

it did indeed turn out to be a mistake

this is one of the early photographs by

La Padre showing a fairly substantial

crater but this image from an aircraft

owner this really tells a story you can

see that on one side the reinforced

concrete has had the concrete Stripped

Away leaving the rebar behind you can

see there's water by the way already

come floating in there and this is a big

problem with Boca Chica the water table

is so close to the surface they can't

really dig down now they could start

building it up but then they would have

to work with the Army Corps of Engineers

and of course they've already built this

giant Tower this is a big problem all

that missing dirt and concrete that had

to go somewhere a lot of it was just

thrown up into the air look at the

debris coming out of the bottom of the

rocket during this initial part of the

launch a big component of that cloud is

dust and sand and pulverized concrete

being kicked up by those engines and it

blew with the winds over uh South Padre

Island and a bunch of people had you

gotta clean off their cars but the

bigger flying chunks damaged ground

equipment including the tank farm but

more importantly some of that stuff must

have hit the rocket the vehicle took off

missing engines right away so I think

the clock was actually kind of wrong

because it was supposed to start

ignition at T minus six seconds and then

t0 would be takeoff but it was more like

T minus two and then t plus 4 when I saw

first movement now a lot of people

initially saw it leaning over and as if

it was about to fall I think that is a

pad avoidance maneuver which makes total

sense if you've got that amount of

propellant in there you want it to make

sure that if something goes wrong it

doesn't fall back down now the next

thing to look at is their Telemetry in

the bottom left they actually show which

engines are active and if you look at

the outer ring of fixed booster engines

the two in that ring that have failed

are next to each other and that means

that it's much more likely they failed

due to a common cause say of a chunk of

concrete impacting both of them that

being said we begin to see Progressive

engine failures over the launch

sometimes by a quite visible flashes now

this one this particular failure

actually looks to be potentially more

interesting than the others because this

is actually sitting ahead of the engines

and it looks like it might be part of

the fairing that covers things like the

hydraulic power unit and the hydraulic

power unit is pretty important because

it generates pressure in the hydraulic

system that is used to drive the thrust

vectoring and other mechanical parts of

the rocket less relevant is the people

posting images from this section of the

flight showing the rocket looking a

little bent I think this is entirely due

to Rolling shutter on the camera that

they were using the vehicle is fine and

straight

the other thing I'm seeing is a lot of

very bright engine Flames that's

consistent with uh engine Rich exhaust I

think a bunch of these engines are

failing in some way and they're slowly

shutting down as these failures destroy

the internals you might think that

Starship with so many engines should be

able to handle the loss of an engine or

two with 33 engines each engine is like

three percent the total thrust and

that's you know not that bad especially

when you consider that the vehicle had

no payload it's not quite that simple

because what you're actually interested

in is the XS acceleration over the force

of gravity so each engine accounts for

more like nine percent of the

performance and this lack of thrust is

enough to affect the trajectory so the

vehicle first of all it hits Max Q later

than it was supposed to but also as it

hits this point in the atmosphere when

it's starting to generate a vapor trail

you'll notice that it's actually kind of

going slightly at an angle to the

airflow I believe the vehicle is too low

and it's trajectory and it's trying to

lift itself up to get back on its

planned flight plan or it might just be

having trouble controlling itself which

is a big problem because the rocket is

aerodynamically unstable with all those

aerodynamic devices on the front of the

rocket the center of lift is in front of

the center of mass and that means that

without control it would want to flip

around so it needs to have the engine

gimbaling to keep the rocket pointing

straight so I think it's around this

time that the vehicle is starting to

pitch around in a manner the engines

cannot control it and whether this is

because they've lost hydraulic pressure

or it's simply gone too far outside of

its angle of attack envelope uh yeah the

vehicle begins this pitch around and it

is worth mentioning that there is a

planned pitch maneuver during the

separation sequence that the presenters

talk about but that's not what this is

this is a loss of control and you'll see

the angle of attack display has actually

flipped through 180 degrees because the

vehicle is really just spinning around

do note that the view inside made the

interstate showing the engine shows that

the structure of the rocket is actually

in pretty good shape it hasn't bent and

since it's no longer able to accelerate

the vehicle more or less is sort of

cruising upwards towards its apex its

peak speed was about 2150 kilometers per

hour and it will hit out at an apex or

an apogee off about 39 kilometers which

is a long way below their plan's

separation altitude now the presenters

did talk about the stage separation

happening I don't think that was ever

commanded because a prerequisite for

stage separation is shutting down the

engines on the main stage so that they

are actually they're not pushing the

spacecraft together that doesn't happen

instead the vehicle begins to fall back

to Earth and as it's falling back it's

accelerating the atmosphere is getting

denser it's going to hit the second Max

Q event and at that point I think that

actually causes a structural failure in

the rocket so we do have confirmation

from the FAA the light termination

system was activated but I think the re

the vehicle was failing before that

point because first of all we have a

potential leak of a image showing a

camera on the Starship fin showing a

bent structure and just the physics of

the situation makes sense we've got most

most of the fuel is now remaining in the

Starship which hasn't burned any the

rest of the tanks are empty and

everything experiences aerodynamic drag

more or less the same so you've got this

sort of point where you've got most of

the mass concentrated and the vehicle is

going to be bending around this location

and that's roughly where the bend

appears to be in that leaked image so I

think Starship makes this one final

rotation Edge on into the Airstream it's

at 31 kilometers now it's fast again and

the booster tanks fail and then Starship

has its flight termination system

activated and then debris rains down

over the Gulf of Mexico the camera views

do show the uh solution starts down at

the base of the rocket which could

actually be a flight termination system

activation but it does appear to show

that it is slightly not straight anymore

again really hard to see uh and I'm sure

SpaceX have the data and I'm sure

they're excited to look over this data

and maybe get to fixing some of the

problems but yeah it does look like

stage zero is going to be the main focus

of attention

we can actually figure out roughly where

the vehicle was when it broke up thanks

to the flash of the explosion which

showed up on the lightning detector

offer goes east which is a geostationary

weather satellite this also picked out

the plume on ascent and the shadow that

it cast in the early morning sun the

plume and the debris Cloud that was

generated also showed up on a weather

radar and of course all this actually

helps us potentially locate where the

debris might actually end up so the

light stuff will tend to fall straight

down the heavier stuff will continue

further out to sea so if we overlay the

weather data with a marine map we see

that the water there is about 150 feet

deep so basically don't try going there

if you're an amateur scuba diver this is

well in the range of technical diving it

is possible but the experts only and

remember just because that piece of

Hardware is on the ocean floor doesn't

mean that it's not itar

so yeah to everyone at SpaceX that

worked on this I I hope you're feeling

good because you get a lot of work to do

I can't tell you when the next launch is

going to be while they have got boosters

and Starships lined up for tests two and

three it's very clear that stage zero is

gonna need some serious civil

engineering to solve the problems I'm

Scott Manley fly safe

[Music]

thank you

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