Elon Musk reveals what caused Starship SN10 rocket to explode

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday revealed what caused the SN10 Starship rocket to explode during a test flight on March 3. Musk took to Twitter and said the legs of Starship gave up in the final moment because of the rocket coming in too hot from the test flight. Experts had pointed out before that the SN10 rocket made a hard landing and even bounced once before it blew up into pieces. 

Mush revealed that the “SN10 engine was low on thrust due (probably) to partial helium ingestion from fuel header tank”, which made the landing impactful as the rocket came down at the speed of 10 m/s, crushing the legs and part of the skirt. 

SpaceX is currently preparing for the launch of the SN11 Starship rocket as images of the American space company’s employees testing the legs of the rocket went viral on social media. SpaceX has made significant progress in its development of the Starship rocket. The company was able to successfully launch the flight on its first try last year, but on all three occasions, they failed to land the rocket properly. 

What caused other Starship prototypes to explode?

The first two prototypes of the Starship rocket were launched in December 2020 and February 2021. 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. 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.