Starship SN9 flight test in < 30 minutes (disclaimer here)

[mrflibble]

For those interested:
https://youtu.be/wfHqbahPKpY

[wraper]

Also from another "spy".

[wraper]

[wraper]

RUD

[Sal Ammoniac]

Crash and burn!

[tom66]

Looks like only one engine lit, one tried to start but quickly extinguished. Insufficient thrust and an unscheduled disassembly follows.

[Gyro]

At least it didn't land on SN10. 

[Neilm]

What gets me is that it looks as if it over rotated, where as SN8 was vertical at h=0

[raptor1956]

Not only did one engine not light fully there appears to be a couple pieces fly off from the bottom.  Interesting that Elon has not responded about SN9 as he did almost immediately after SN8.  Given the high energy of the crash and the proximity of SN10 it would highly surprise me if SN10 wasn't damaged.  The damage may be minor and fixable but it could be worse -- that's the risk you take when you try to land so close to critical items.  The thing I am truly impressed by is the precision of the navigation as both SN8 and SN9 crash on the landing pad.


Brian

[TerraHertz]

Maybe it might be a good idea to flip it to vertical a couple of seconds earlier, and let the fuel settle in the tanks and pipework before trying to light all the engines?

Setting up the next ready ship on a pad so close by the test landing impact point, does seem a bit overconfident.

[Neilm]

Maybe it might be a good idea to flip it to vertical a couple of seconds earlier, and let the fuel settle in the tanks and pipework before trying to light all the engines?

Setting up the next ready ship on a pad so close by the test landing impact point, does seem a bit overconfident.

The fuel is under a lot of presure in the tanks. Current speculation I have heard is that it was caused by an igniter issue. Raptor uses igniters (basically arc welders) rather than TEATEB and they have proved to be tricky to get working. I believe there are three, one in the main engine and one in each of the preburners that drive the pumps. Several static fire attempts have aborted due to them not working correctly.