SpaceX
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands for the last time ahead of risky in-flight abort test
SpaceX’s latest successful launch and landing has wrapped up with Israeli Moon lander Beresheet on its way to Earth’s neighbor, Indonesian communications satellite PSN-6 headed to its final orbit, and the second thrice-flown Falcon 9 Block 5 booster safely returned to Port Canaveral aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).
Known as Falcon 9 B1048, its third successful landing and recovery will almost certainly be this booster’s last after its fourth launch was officially assigned to a critical Crew Dragon launch abort test, one that the booster is very unlikely to survive. According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, that test could occur as early as April and will push the first flight-proven Crew Dragon space capsule to its limits.
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1099688043009753088
After weathering what Musk also described as the toughest reentry and heating conditions yet experience by a Falcon 9 booster meant for recovery, Falcon 9 B1048 landing (almost) flawlessly aboard drone ship OCISLY, stationed roughly 700 km (430 mi) off the Florida coast. Hinted at by the booster’s very slight lean on the recovery vessel’s deck, B1048 most likely cut thrust (or ran out of fuel) just before the optimal stop point, causing the rocket to fall a few unintended feet onto OCISLY and eat into part of the aluminum honeycomb ‘crush-core’ present on all Falcon landing legs.
Reentry, even at 1/4 of orbital speed is hard pic.twitter.com/Tk2KJblWH5
— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) February 22, 2019
In essence, that crushable aluminum acts as a very rough form of emergency suspension meant to minimize potential damage to the fragile structure of Falcon booster propellant tanks at the cost of its landing legs. In the case of B1048’s third landing, the lean appears to be no more than a few degrees – scarcely out of the ordinary, at least relative to past leaning boosters. Most notably, Falcon 9 B1023 experienced a similar anomaly and a far worse lean after its first landing, an experience that did not apparently impact its ability to launch for the second time as a side booster for Falcon Heavy’s inaugural launch.
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- Falcon 9 B1048 returned to Port Canaveral on February 24th after its third successful launch and landing. (Teslarati)
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- B1048.3 beside its human caretakers. (Tom Cross)
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- Octagrabber robots are meant to prevent boosters from sliding off of drone ship decks by anchoring them with their tank-like weight. (Teslarati)
B1048’s slight departure from a perfect trajectory should thus pose no problem for in-place plans for the rocket’s fourth (and likely final) launch. Known as Crew Dragon’s in-flight abort (IFA) test, SpaceX specifically requested the inclusion of a second abort test (above and beyond NASA’s testing requirements) to fully verify that astronauts could be pulled to safety at any point during launch. In 2015, the company completed a pad abort test of Crew Dragon, demonstrating that the spacecraft could escape from a failing rocket while static on the launch pad. The in-flight abort is precisely what it sounds like: a demonstration that Crew Dragon can safely escape a failing rocket while in flight. More than simply being in flight, the goal is to demonstrate a successful abort at the point of peak aerodynamic stress of Falcon 9 and Dragon, known as Max Q.
For Cargo Dragon launches, Falcon 9 has typically averaged dynamic forces of about 25 kPa (~4 psi), roughly equivalent to 2.5 tons of force per square meter. During launch, either the payload fairing or Cargo/Crew Dragon are subjected directly to those forces, often requiring a significant period of lower throttle to mitigate the forces those sensitive assemblies experience. Given that Crew Dragon’s abort scenario accelerates the capsule and trunk from a relative speed of zero to nearly 350 mph (150 m/s) in five seconds, the dynamic forces (i.e. mechanical loads and heating) the spacecraft is experiencing could jump 50% or more almost instantaneously.
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- Falcon 9 B1054 around the time of Max Q. (Tom Cross)
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- While it doesn’t necessarily correlate with Max Q, vapor cones like the one on B1047’s fairing are a partial visualization of Max Q forces. (SpaceX)
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- An official SpaceX render shows Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon lifting off from Pad 39A. (SpaceX)
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- Falcon 9 B1051 and Crew Dragon vertical at Pad 39A. (SpaceX)
After Crew Dragon aborts, the Falcon 9 stack – featuring B1048 and a full-fidelity upper stage with a mass simulator in place of its MVac engine – will be instantaneously exposed to those same dynamic forces, experientially equivalent to bellyflopping from an Olympic-height diving platform. The upper stage may actually be better off than the booster thanks to the generally smooth dome at its stern, whereas Falcon 9’s booster would have its interstage – a deep, open cylinder – exposed to the same airflow if or when the upper stage is torn away. At the point of abort, Falcon 9 will most likely be in the process of shutting down its Merlin 1D engines, effectively removing the booster’s control authority and leaving it at the mercy of the atmosphere. SpaceX’s CRS-7 Cargo Dragon failure (caused by the second stage losing structural integrity mid-flight) is actually a decent representation of what is likely to happen to B1048 and its upper stage.
Given the potential destructive power B1048 will face, not to mention the fact that the booster will likely not have grid fins or landing legs installed, today’s recovery will probably be the last time the rocket returns to port and prepares for another launch. Explicitly dependent upon the refurbishment of DM-1’s Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX’s in-flight abort is not expected to occur until June 2019, although Musk has indicated that the aspirational target is to perform the test as early as April, perhaps less than 60 days after the capsule is scheduled to land in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX issues statement on Starship V3 Booster 18 anomaly
The incident unfolded during gas-system pressure testing at the company’s Massey facility in Starbase, Texas.
SpaceX has issued an initial statement about Starship Booster 18’s anomaly early Friday. The incident unfolded during gas-system pressure testing at the company’s Massey facility in Starbase, Texas.
SpaceX’s initial comment
As per SpaceX in a post on its official account on social media platform X, Booster 18 was undergoing gas system pressure tests when the anomaly happened. Despite the nature of the incident, the company emphasized that no propellant was loaded, no engines were installed, and personnel were kept at a safe distance from the booster, resulting in zero injuries.
“Booster 18 suffered an anomaly during gas system pressure testing that we were conducting in advance of structural proof testing. No propellant was on the vehicle, and engines were not yet installed. The teams need time to investigate before we are confident of the cause. No one was injured as we maintain a safe distance for personnel during this type of testing. The site remains clear and we are working plans to safely reenter the site,” SpaceX wrote in its post on X.
Incident and aftermath
Livestream footage from LabPadre showed Booster 18’s lower half crumpling around the liquid oxygen tank area at approximately 4:04 a.m. CT. Subsequent images posted by on-site observers revealed extensive deformation across the booster’s lower structure. Needless to say, spaceflight observers have noted that Booster 18 would likely be a complete loss due to its anomaly.
Booster 18 had rolled out only a day earlier and was one of the first vehicles in the Starship V3 program. The V3 series incorporates structural reinforcements and reliability upgrades intended to prepare Starship for rapid-reuse testing and eventual tower-catch operations. Elon Musk has been optimistic about Starship V3, previously noting on X that the spacecraft might be able to complete initial missions to Mars.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Version 3 booster crumples in early testing
Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
SpaceX’s new Starship first-stage booster, Booster 18, suffered major damage early Friday during its first round of testing in Starbase, Texas, just one day after rolling out of the factory.
Based on videos of the incident, the lower section of the rocket booster appeared to crumple during a pressurization test. Photos of the incident’s aftermath suggest that Booster 18 will likely be retired.
Booster test failure
SpaceX began structural and propellant-system verification tests on Booster 18 Thursday night at the Massey’s Test Site, only a few miles from Starbase’s production facilities, as noted in an Ars Technica report. At 4:04 a.m. CT on Friday, a livestream from LabPadre Space captured the booster’s lower half experiencing a sudden destructive event around its liquid oxygen tank section. Post-incident images, shared on X by @StarshipGazer, showed notable deformation in the booster’s lower structure.
Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk had commented as of Friday morning, but the vehicle’s condition suggests it is likely a complete loss. This is quite unfortunate, as Booster 18 is already part of the Starship V3 program, which includes design fixes and upgrades intended to improve reliability. While SpaceX maintains a rather rapid Starship production line in Starbase, Booster 18 was generally expected to validate the improvements implemented in the V3 program.
Tight deadlines
SpaceX needs Starship boosters and upper stages to begin demonstrating rapid reuse, tower catches, and early operational Starlink missions over the next two years. More critically, NASA’s Artemis program depends on an on-orbit refueling test in the second half of 2026, a requirement for the vehicle’s expected crewed lunar landing around 2028.
While SpaceX is known for diagnosing failures quickly and returning to testing at unmatched speed, losing the newest-generation booster at the very start of its campaign highlights the immense challenge involved in scaling Starship into a reliable, high-cadence launch system. SpaceX, however, is known for getting things done quickly, so it would not be a surprise if the company manages to figure out what happened to Booster 18 in the near future.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s next project will produce Starships at a level that sounds impossible
1,000 rockets per year is an insane number, especially considering Starship’s sheer size.
Elon Musk has revealed bold plans for SpaceX’s newest Starbase facility in Texas, predicting it will become a birthplace for “so many spaceships.” The upcoming “Gigabay,” a massive $250 million production hub in Starbase, Texas, is designed to manufacture up to 1,000 Starship rockets per year.
That’s an insane number of rockets for a single facility, especially considering Starship’s sheer size.
One of the world’s largest industrial structures
SpaceX’s Gigabay is expected to stand roughly 380 feet tall and enclose 46.5 million cubic feet of interior space, making it one of the largest industrial structures to date. The facility will feature 24 dedicated work cells for assembling and refurbishing Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, complete with heavy-duty cranes capable of lifting up to 400 U.S. tons, as noted in a Times of India report.
Construction crews have already placed four tower cranes on-site, with completion targeted for December 2026. Once operational, the Gigabay is expected to boost SpaceX’s launch cadence dramatically, as it would be able to build up to 1,000 reusable Starships per year, as noted in a report from the Dallas Express. Musk stated that the Gigabay will be “one of the biggest structures in the world” and hinted that it represents a major leap in Starbase’s evolution from test site to full-scale production hub.
A key step toward Mars and beyond
Starship is SpaceX’s heavy-lift rocket system, and it remains a key part of Elon Musk’s vision of a multiplanetary future. The vehicle can carry 100–150 tonnes to low Earth orbit and up to 250 tonnes in expendable mode. With several successful flights to date, including a perfect 11th test flight, the Starship program continues to refine its reusable launch system ahead of crewed lunar missions under NASA’s Artemis initiative.
Starship is unlike any other spacecraft that has been produced in the past. As per Elon Musk, Starship is a “planet-colonizer” class rocket, as the magnitude of such a task “makes other space transport task trivial.” Considering Starship’s capabilities, it could indeed become the spacecraft that makes a Moon or Mars base feasible.
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