What exactly caused failure and why SpaceX's Starships keep blowing up? Read details

SpaceX's SN10 Starship rocket exploded soon after making a safe landing following a high altitude test on Wednesday. However, the mission has been dubbed successful by SpaceX, whose previous versions of the Starship rockets couldn't land and met the same fate as SN10 upon touchdown. During Wednesday's test, the rocket landed safely, which was first for the Starship model, and also remained stationary for eight good minutes before it blew off. 

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SpaceX is yet to reveal the reason behind the explosion, but experts believe it may be due to a leakage in SN10's propellant tank. Some reports also suggest that the blast could have been triggered by a methane leak, which is used as fuel by SpaceX in its Starship rocket. But, nothing can be concluded as of now because of no clarification from SpaceX. Also, note that this was only the third test of the Starship prototype and what it has managed to achieve in such a short time is impressive. 

Read: SpaceX's Starship Rocket Makes Seemingly Successful Touchdown, Explodes Minutes Later

What happed to first two rockets?

The first two prototypes of the Starship rocket were launched in December 2020 and February 2021, on both occasions they failed to land properly and exploded. The SN8 rocket, which was tested on December 9 last year, took off as expected and reached an altitude of 7.8 miles. However, the engines failed to slow the rocket down after it flipped and started descending towards Earth for landing, which caused SN8 to explode. 

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"Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed," SpaceX founder Elon Musk had said on Twitter at the time. RUD" stands for "rapid unscheduled disassembly", which rocket scientists use for describing an explosion. 

The SN9 took off on February 2 this year and was again looking good until the flip came and it failed to correct its angle and speed, exploding upon landing. Elon Musk and SpaceX didn't issue any reason behind the blast, but experts suggested the failure of an engine that prevented the rocket from changing its angle. The latest test on Wednesday passed all the hurdles faced in the previous two tests but exploded minutes after landing. 

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