SpaceX Revealed Something Bad Happened During Starship S34 Ascent Burn...

[Music] to see the super heavy booster gliding down into the Chopstick arms once again oh my God what you just witnessed with B15 is nothing short of spectacular a testament to the eighth flight of spacex's Starship but of course we can't ignore the issues with s34 there's a lot to break down so how did the latest flight unfold what went wrong and why get ready because this is shaping up to be one of the most important episodes of the month on great SpaceX in less than 10 minutes the flight delivered stunning results B15 successfully landed on mechazilla arms while s34 engines encountered issues leading to a loss of control for B15 the journey was mostly smooth though not without problems two engines failed to fire during the Boost back burn and during the landing Burn only one of the two reignited this issue seems similar to the previous flight where SpaceX identified the cause as a low power condition in the igniter system it appears the fix wasn't enough leading to the same problem occurring again meanwhile s34 situation looked eerily familiar as well based on initial observations the likely cause was excessive pressure leading to leaks and fire which damaged the engines when cameras zoomed into the s34 engine bay small fires were visible in two of the vacuum engines another video from Mission Control showed an rvac engine explosion suggesting that a Thrust imbalance may have contributed to s34 Rapid unscheduled disassembly a potential cause could be the new arvac feed lines SpaceX had previously stated that they had improved the venting and fire suppression systems yet these enhancements were not enough to prevent the failure following the incident SpaceX took to X to provide an update during starship's Ascent burn the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses we will review the data from today's flight test to better understand the root cause these are the key takeaways from the flight though we'll need further updates from SpaceX to get a clearer picture now let's go over the entire flight to gain a better perspective because despite the setbacks this launch marked significant ific Milestones as usual fuel loading went smoothly and followed the planned timeline the Starbase launch site was engulfed in intense venting and frost formed on both stages of the rocket at exactly 5:30 p.m. central super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines roared to life generating over 7,000 tons of thrust at liftoff the rocket cleared Max q and at t plus 2 minutes and 33 seconds second engine cut off occurred shutting down the outer and middle ring of b15s engines while leaving three Center engines active hot staging followed successfully igniting s34 six engines for stage separation however as previously mentioned engine failures soon became evident instead of the one like in flight 7 this time two engines failed to restart fortunately the booster still retained enough thrust to continue its controlled descent at t plus 3 minutes and 39 seconds B15 shut down its middle engines and at T plus4 4 minutes and 6 seconds the inner engines followed putting the booster into transonic descent the hot staging ring was jettisoned at t plus 5 minutes and 9 seconds marking another smooth step in the process then came one of the most exciting moments the booster return at t plus 6 minutes and 34 seconds B15 was only 1 km away from the tower traveling at 1,150 km per hour when the landing burn began unfortunately due to the earlier boost back burn issues only one of the two middle ring engines reignited however the good news was that one did successfully re-engage similar to what happened during flight 7 with 12 engines firing B15 rapidly decelerated at t plus 6 minutes and 41 seconds the middle engines shut down leaving three inner gimbal engines to steer and finalize the landing by T plus 6 minutes and 48 seconds the booster and Tower were visible in the same frame a moment of pure adrenaline below the Chopsticks opened to catch the rocket and at t plus 6 minutes and 55 seconds B15 made contact within seconds the Chopsticks closed in securing the booster at t plus 7 minutes and 2 seconds b15s Landing pins locked onto the Chopstick rails signaling a successful catch this marks the third time SpaceX has successfully landed a booster using mechazilla and the second consecutive success it's becoming routine a testament to spacex's Rapid progress B15 will likely return to the production site soon for refurbishment making room for the next launch preparation but while the booster's landing was a huge success s 34's fate wasn't as fortunate after several minutes in flight at T Plus 8 minutes and 5 Seconds the first vacuum engine shut down following shortly by the three inner engines losing his thrust balance s34 began to spin out of control evident from the onboard camera views by t+ 9 Minutes the signal was lost briefly returning for a few seconds before cutting out completely at t plus 9 minutes and 13 seconds with such an issue hopes for continued flights were slim it appears that the flight termination system was triggered again leading to an explosion reports indicate that the fireball was visible from Cape canaval Florida and burning debris was observed over the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas so another incredible Starship flight comes to an end filled with both successes and challenges as SpaceX emphasized as always success comes from what we learned and today's flight will offer additional lessons to improve starship's reliability failures aren't setbacks they're Stepping Stones each flight brings vital data Paving the way for a fully operational Starship so if you still believe in spacex's Vision show your support type never give up in the comment section down below like the video and subscribe to stay updated on spacex's groundbreaking Journey now it's time to look ahead to what comes next with s34 failure and investigation is is almost certainly required however since the issue seems similar to flight 7 the review process may be shorter than last time SpaceX Engineers now have more experience with this type of failure which could streamline troubleshooting and accelerate the path to the next launch one factor that may cause delays is the aftermath of the flight a major concern is where the debris has fallen and who may be affected the extent of the impact on populated areas and Aerospace regulations will be key in determining how soon flight 9 can proceed if authorities require an extended review of debris handling and safety protocols it could push back the timeline with the current outcome it is likely that flight n will still need to land in the ocean rather than attempting a catch with mechazilla this means that the first ship catching test may not happen until flight 10 or later on a positive note SpaceX has made major strides in booster recovery the super heavy catch mechanism is now proving to be consistent and Rel reliable allowing the team to shift Focus toward fixing these ship's issues for the next test in terms of Hardware progress B6 is currently undergoing cryogenic testing while Starship S35 has completed production and is ready for testing once B16 completes its tests it'll likely be rolled out for more advanced evaluations while S35 will remain at Massie for further preparations if the investigation wraps up quickly and testing stays on schedule we might see the next flight as early as April do you think that's possible let me know with a yes or no in the comments down below and for our final piece of news today let's turn our attention to China and its latest remote sensing satellite launch a mission that underscores the country's growing Ambitions in space on the 27th of February at 28 a.m. eastern China successfully launched a long march 2C rocket from Jan satellite launch Center carrying a pair of remote sensing satellites known as super review ne-1 these satellites have now joined China's commercial highresolution remote sensing constellation operating in low earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 500 km shortly after liftoff the mission was declared a success however details about the specific purpose of the satellites remain undisclosed the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation or casc the primary contractor for China's Space Program described the payload as part of the China seway new generation commercial remote sensing satellite system this system is designed to support remote sensing applications such as mapping surveillance and imaging advancing China's highresolution agile Imaging satellite technology according to cc's official statement the newly launched satellites possess ultra high resolution High agility High positioning accuracy and high capacity high performance data transmission capabilities their overall performance metrics are reportedly on par with International Advanced standards strengthening China's position in the global commercial remote sensing satellite Market the previous pair of satellites launched by China in November of 2024 featured highresolution synthetic aperture radar or S technology a capability that allows for detailed Imaging even in poor weather conditions or Darkness this suggests a pattern of strategic expansion in China's Earth observation capabilities however despite the mission's declared success there are already signs of potential issues observers have noted that insulation tiles from the Rockets Upper stage and payload section appeared to have fallen off during Ascent this is not the first time such an issue has occurred in a Chinese rocket launch raising questions about the reliability and durability of China's launch Vehicles as of now casc has not provided any updates regarding this anomaly with this latest launch China has now completed nine successful orbital launches in 2025 after falling short of it goal of 100 launches in 2024 the country is now pushing aggressively to reach that Milestone this year this will require a significant acceleration in both government-backed and private sector space flight efforts China's recent surge in space activity presents a major challenge to other space fairing Nations particularly the United States the country has dramatically increased its launch frequency in recent years expanding into a wide range of space missions Beyond remote sensing satellites China has ambitious plans for space station operations lunar exploration asteroid missions and even Mars projects these developments signal a strong commitment to becoming a dominant force in space exploration that being said China still lags behind in certain key areas particularly in reusability cost efficiency and launch Cadence all areas where SpaceX continues to excel last year SpaceX alone launched 138 missions that's over double China's entire National effort of 68 the private space flight industry in the United States led by SpaceX remains far ahead in technological advancements reusability and overall launch efficiency so while China is making bold strides the US space industry still leads the race for now the real question is how will American space organizations respond to China's rapid advancements let's wait and see how NASA SpaceX and other key players push forward after this latest update from China this time the explosion appeared to occur closer to Shore as it was visible from Cape canaval the Bahamas and the Turks and Kos Islands given the flight path it is likely that debris drifted into these areas as well it's also worth noting that although the booster landed successfully some issues were observed in its engines while these did not lead to immediate failure there is no guarantee they won't cause more significant problems in future flights following the flight the FAA quickly responded with an official statement the FAA is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into to the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on the 6th of March during the event the FAA activated a debris response area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location this means SpaceX must now conduct another investigation similar to previous ones to determine the root cause of the failure in an update on X SpaceX confirmed during starship's Ascent burn the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled dis assembly and contact was lost our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses we will review the data from today's flight test to better understand the root cause additionally SpaceX stated we will conduct a thorough investigation in coordination with the FAA and Implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests Beyond determining the cause of the failure SpaceX will need to collaborate with the FAA and other relevant agencies to assess the impact of falling debris this includes working with local authorities in affected areas to evaluate potential damage and ensure Public Safety once these assessments are complete corrective actions must be taken for the vehicle itself SpaceX must Implement design upgrades to prevent similar failures in future flights for the effected regions the company must swiftly recover debris address any damages and take the necessary steps to mitigate risks only once these measures are completed will the FAA Grant approval for the next flight looking at the situation from two perspectives there are both concerns and reasons for optimism on the downside the problems from flight 7 resurfaced in flight 8 suggesting that spacex's upgrades were not entirely effective the recurrence of these failures May indicate deeper design flaws which could take longer to address Additionally the proximity of the explosion to populated areas may result in a more complex investigation potentially delaying future launches furthermore SpaceX now faces two mishap investigations simultaneously the need to resolve both could slow down the overall Starship development timeline on the upside the investigation May proceed quickly so far no damage from falling debris has been reported the FAA also indicated in its statement that this information is preliminary and subject to change and confirmed that normal operations have resumed additionally because the issue is similar to flight 7 the investigation may be expedited SpaceX has already implemented several upgrades and can now refine them further another positive aspect is that the flight 9 Mission remains unchanged since SpaceX still plans to land the ship in the ocean rather than attempting a launch no modifications to the existing launch license are needed this allows the company to focus on addressing technical issues rather than regulatory hurdles importantly the FAA has streamlined its approval processes in recent months which could further speed up the review and approval timeline if all goes well the investigation issue resolution and Regulatory approvals could be completed within a month allowing flight 9 to launch as early as April however regulatory approval is only one piece of the puzzle SpaceX must also ensure the Readiness of both the vehicle and the launch infrastructure fortunately flight 99's booster and ship are already completed and undergoing testing and the launch system has been refurbished quickly after previous flights this suggests that pending FAA approval SpaceX could proceed with the next launch without significant delays looking Beyond flight 9 the next major Milestone will be flight 10 which is expected to include an attempt to catch the ship with the mechazilla arms while it is disappointing that the this test is being pushed back the additional time allows SpaceX to further refine Tower B in preparation for the catch a successful catch on the first attempt would be a groundbreaking achievement and the extra preparation time increases the likelihood of success despite the setbacks SpaceX remains optimistic in two updates on X the company emphasized success comes from what we learn and today's flights will offer additional lessons to improve starship's reliability John Edwards spacex's vice president of Falcon launch Vehicles added never give up after Falcon 1 Flight 3 we learned the hard way that the night is darkest just before the dawn keep your head up keep pushing we're going to get there this highlights spacex's unwavering commitment to its philosophy of continuous learning and iterative Improvement each failure provides valuable insights that bring Starship closer to full operational capability of course challenges remain on the path to full reusability but now is the time to support spacex's efforts in times like these the team benefits from encouragement from a space enthusiasts like us so if you believe in their mission respond with keep on going in the comment section to show your support and while SpaceX has faced setbacks it also has made remarkable progress so far this year the company has conducted two Starship test flights and successfully landed super heavy twice in a row speaking of Milestones our team is also working toward one reaching 200k subscribers achieving this goal requires us to work harder and provide even better content but your support is crucial and making it happen so if you haven't already please subscribe to our channel to stay updated on the latest SpaceX developments together we'll continue following this exciting journey toward the future of space exploration thank you so much for your support meanwhile on NASA's end the Artemis program has been at the center of intense debate particularly as the United States and China compete for dominance in lunar exploration critics argue that Artemis faces numerous challenges and this was a key focus of a recent hearing held by the house house committee on science space and Technologies space and Aeronautics subcommittee on February 26th the hearing titled stepbystep the Artemis program and NASA's path to human exploration of the Moon Mars and Beyond featured space policy experts Dr Scott Pace director of the space policy Institute at George Washington University and Dan dumbacher Adjunct professor at Purdue University during the hearing both experts raised concerns about the pace and execution of Artemis d bker expressed alarm over the growing competition from China stating our Global competitors primarily China and its allies are out planning and outpacing us in their drive to become dominant in space this is a critical National Security and economic concern his statement underscores the urgency for the US to maintain its leadership in lunar exploration particularly as China aggressively advances its own lunar Ambitions Scott Pace meanwhile called for a reassessment of NASA's approach suggesting that the agency should consider alternatives for getting astronauts to the moon and back he argued ideally NASA should be able to buy heavy lift services to send payloads to the Moon a revised Artemis campaign plan should be a high priority for the new administrator this statement hints at a potential shift in strategy possibly moving away from NASA's traditional Reliance on the space launch system and considering more cost-effective commercially available Solutions Pace also emphasized that simply reaching the moon first is not enough sustainability must be a priority he explained I would say the immediate campaign plan if you will for the next several missions uh is going to be important to get there to ahead of the Chinese and then we need to be able to think and how are we going to stay there in a way that's sustainable and affordable his remarks highlight a growing consensus that arus must transition from a series of one-off missions to a longterm repeatable presence on the lunar surface both pace and dumbacher also discussed the role of SLS and Starship in emis dumbacher expressed skepticism about starship's readiness arguing that the number of successful Starship launches need to demonstrate its reliability making Landing humans on the Moon by 2030 remote at best this suggests that NASA may need to rethink its Reliance on Starship hls or introduce contingency plans to avoid delays the hearing also highlighted NASA's bureaucratic inefficiencies with discussions on cutting waste streamlining processes and fost ing a risk tolerant culture to accelerate emis as 2025 progresses NASA must refine its approach maintaining Starship hls while reducing delays and costs should emis undergo major changes or stay the course this has been Kevin with great SpaceX don't forget to like the video and subscribe if you haven't already to stay up to date with yours truly in the latest details of spacex's progress thank you so much for tuning in and remember curiosity imagination and inspiration will always follow you as long as as you keep looking up