One of the spacex rockets that NASA wants to use to put humans on the Moon has exploded during a small trial. Scientists at Elon Musk’s company were conducting a cryogenic test when the Super Heavy Booster 7 burst The causes are not completely clear, but it could be related to a fuel leak which formed a cloud of methane and oxygen gas.
Elon Musk himself appeared at the Boca Chica launch basein Texas, for assess damage. At the moment it will be necessary inspect your 33 engines conscientiously. For this reason, SpaceX has already removed the rocket from the base for analysis.
According to the CEO of the company, if all goes well, the launch will not be postponed much and will take place, at most, in a month. This will consist of a preliminary test to verify that, indeed, the rocket can land in a controlled manner after launch and release of its payload. This would make it easier for the same rocket to be reused for several missions to the Moon in the future, thus reducing its contribution to the levels of space debris.
The test that blew up the SpaceX rocket
The combustion systems used today by most rockets require a cryogenic cooling provided by liquefied gases. These kept at very low temperaturesbetween -150 °C and -273 °C.
The pressure and temperature changes They help power rockets very efficiently. But if all the variables are not controlled, its use can end in an accident. The reason is that, when fuels are introduced so cold in the steel tanks, the metal supercools and, subsequently, freezes water vapor present in the air. This results in a thin layer of frost on some parts of the rocket.
In addition, when cryogenic liquids come into contact with the ship’s pipes and tanks, at room temperature, they are abruptly heated and turn into gas. The result is a series of sudden changes in state, temperature and pressure that can get out of control if everything is not measured properly. SpaceX usually performs these cryogenic tests to ensure everything is under control before launches. And that is precisely what they were doing this time when the ship exploded.
A rocket to travel to the Moon and Mars
Once the bugs that caused this explosion have been fixed, the objective is to carry out a controlled launch and landing in the Pacific Oceannorth of Hawaii.
This will be one of many tests that SpaceX intends to conduct before its rockets begin to be used to power the ships that will carry humans back to the Moon as part of the Artemis Programfrom NASA.
That is what they have closed at the moment with the US space agency. However, Elon Musk’s company plans to use its recyclable launch system for other missions. This includes, for example, those would put humans on Mars for the first time.
Either way, neither one thing nor the other will happen before 2025, at the earliest. Therefore, they still have plenty of time to practice and avoid explosions like the one that just happened in Boca Chica.