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After SpaceX shockingly lost its Starship upper stage during Flight 7 yesterday, Elon Musk has shared additional details about the possible reasons behind the failure. SpaceX’s official release for the accident noted that the anomaly caused rapid and unscheduled dismantling (RUD), which is another term for a vehicle that breaks up during a mission. His party thinks the RUD came from a fire at the bottom of the rocket, and according to Musk, the fire was caused by a leak in the part of the rocket that separates the engine from the rest of the vehicle.

Elon Musk Confident Starship Flight 8 Will Not Be Delayed Beyond February

New details after the Starship Flight 7 crash show that the FAA had to temporarily divert the plane in the area where the upper stage of the ship exploded. So far, the FAA has not directly confirmed whether any space ship debris fell outside the designated danger area. This area is cleared of any aircraft before launch to ensure there are no accidents in the event of a flight anomaly.

SpaceX’s official release, posted hours after the explosion, stated that “The Starship flies within a designated launch corridor” and added that “Any remaining debris will fall into the designated hazard area.” Soon after the anomaly, the FAA issued a temporary pilot notice warning aircraft about “DANGEROUS AREA FOR FALLING WRECK FOR ROCKET STARSHIP FLT-7.”

A statement from the FAA was provided to reporters, detailing the actions the agency took following the crash. In its statement, the FAA noted that “briefly slowed and diverted the craft around the area where the space vehicle debris fell.” Statements from regulators and SpaceX did not explain whether any debris fell outside the designated area.

After his first comments after Flight 7 stating that entertainment was almost always guaranteed during testing, Musk returned to X to reveal the reasons behind Starship’s failure. According to her, “The initial indication is that there is an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship’s engine firewall which is large enough to cause pressure that exceeds the ventilation capacity..”

The engine firewall is a region on the bottom of the Starship rocket that protects the tank and other internal equipment from the heat and fire generated by the Raptor’s six engines. Fires in the engine room, which is the area of ​​the rocket where the engines are located, occur frequently during testing programs.

Musk’s statement indicated that the leak was not in the firewall, but rather that the rocket was unable to remove the pressure buildup from it. When combined with SpaceX’s official statement confirming that “fire appeared at the back of the ship,” it is reasonable to conclude that overpressure in the rocket combined with engine heat caused the Starship explosion.

The rocket that exploded was an improvement over its predecessor which flew on the previous flight. The plane has larger tanks for greater fuel capacity, and it is uncertain whether the added capacity led to higher propellant pressure, which resulted in the leak mentioned by Musk.

As for the improvements, he added that “In addition to rechecking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to the volume and possibly add ventilation areas.” However, there is Musk’s optimism behind it “So far no one has suggested delaying the next launch to next month” it might be wrong if the FAA requires SpaceX to conduct a crash investigation on Starship Flight 7.