What Went Wrong With Starship's Third Test Flight?

Thanks for the invite yet again, and for the chat Fraser and Scott. It has been extremely exciting watching this mission play out.

This is the best cross-over episode yet! Three of my most trusted and favorite youtubers all together! :)

This trio really makes for the best launch system coverage on planet earth. Frasier asks the best questions. Scott has the most refined presentation of technical expertise. Marcus knows the history of the project better than anyone. If you only have time for one video about any launch, and you see this trio on the thumbnail, then that's the one to watch.

“The second kind of radio blackout” “ when your antennas are turned to plasma” 😂

Three of my favorite reporters on YouTube. Keep up the amazing work gentlemen.

Thanks for the collab...Three minds - single focus.

I have been desperate to find another space ship news outlet. You bring in the only two space junkies I trust and that makes you the 3rd. Good luck new friend, I hope we have a bright future!

Marcus and Scott are the two best to listen to as far as space talk

I've been looking forward to this, thanks Frasier, Scott and Marcus.

The 3 tenors of space! Love these recaps!

This collaboration has become a highlight from each test flight. Love the ideas bounced back and forth. Thanks guys.

Regarding that debris being shed on the start of re-entry. I think Scott and Marcus were again trying to play down a serious issue. We can't see everything behind the camera but my suspicion is that the rolling was presenting the edges of the tiles to the air stream and it was tearing pieces off the edge, including bits of the under-layer (which is more fragile). It is a pity that Starship had a roll issue because I would have liked to see how it handled the more severe heating (and actual high pressures) further into re-entry. It had already lost a couple of tiles on launch and this is a serious problem for the same reason. Air catching the edge of a (missing) tile, and tearing it off, leading to a zipper effect. The other thing that Scott has never discussed is the interaction between Starship's structure and its tiles. The tiles don't like sitting on a surface that has flexure. As Starship descends deeper, the plasma becomes turbulent in some places. That turbulence shakes the underlying steel plate and drives it into vibrational modes. Worse, those vibrations can interact with the plasma, with a potential positive feedback. Add to this the fact that the entire structure is being torqued by the forces on its flaps and their mounting points and you've got a structure that wants to buckle and flex. In short I'd be surprised if this system doesn't suffer a cascading failure. Maybe SpaceX will come up with even more robust tile fixtures. Maybe it will stiffen the overall structure. But all of this adds mass. And the thermal protection system may have to be rethought.

Pausing Scott at 1:03, new wallpaper. Btw these series with these two after every launch is excellency.

The dream team is back!

Because it was a tumbling piece of debris from SECO to burn up. The RCS failed, the door failed, the Fuel transfer failed, the engines didnt relight (there was no fuel left, it all vented hence it tumbled and burned up) The mission was a failure.

The shuttle generally had communication all through entry after the TDRS constellation was complete. When I started at JSC in the late 80's. I didn't understand this and asked my supervisor about it, because I thought there was always a blackout. I was told that because the antennas were on the top side of the shuttle had a clear view of TDRS, with no plasma in the way. Blackouts happened before because the plasma was in the way or the ground antrennas.

Excellent collaboration report. Thank you!

Marcus and scott again! Keep up the Great work frasier. been waiting for Part 3 Since launch day, Best you tube analasys on Starship launches. Hope this series continues.

Yes! The collaboration we all needed!!!

What an amazing trio to discuss this exciting topic! I subscribe to all three but this 3-in-1 package is a gift! Thanks guys. 🙏❤️😊