“ONE OF THE key questions is—does that seal work? We expect it can work, however it might not work,” stated Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX, on June fifth, as his firm’s Starship rocket was being ready for its fourth take a look at flight the next day. He was referring to at least one specific part of the rocket: the thermal safety across the steering flaps used throughout re-entry from orbit. Mr Musk was speaking to Tim Dodd, a YouTuber referred to as On a regular basis Astronaut. Within the occasion, the take a look at flight went effectively: the launch went as deliberate and there was no “speedy unscheduled disassembly” (ie, catastrophic explosion). However the deal with the seal round these flaps proved to be strikingly prescient.
