“It’s a sham failure,” said Olivier Lascar on franceinfo, Saturday, November 18, after the explosion of the Starship rocket in the minutes following its takeoff in Texas.
At 120 meters long, it is the largest rocket in the world. It is supposed to bring man back to the Moon in 2025. But once again, Starship exploded on Saturday November 18, a few minutes after taking off from Texas, in the United States. We could therefore say that this is another failure for billionaire Elon Musk, since Starship is manufactured by his company SpaceX. “It’s a sham failure”says on franceinfo Olivier Lascar, editor-in-chief of Sciences et Avenir, because even if the rocket exploded, SpaceX is progressing very quickly and going to Mars with Starship, “It’s a scenario that seems less and less improbable”.
franceinfo: Should we talk about failure or success?
Olivier Lascar: This is a positive failure because the test is significantly better compared to the first time last April. Elon Musk with SpaceX has an approach that is not that of aerospace history. Previously, the institutions, the space giants, when they launched something into space, they had pampered it beforehand: they were 100% sure, it had to work. Elon Musk works through repetitions of tests, crashes, improvements. This is how he manufactured, with SpaceX, the Falcon rocket which today has a dominant position for launching satellites. Europe itself will use SpaceX to launch its satellites. So we must be wary of this failure. It’s a sham failure. In fact, I believe that we must speak of at least partial success for this second launch.
What makes this trial a success?
It is the largest, most powerful rocket ever built. What is a launch? It’s a controlled explosion. The Starship operates with a combination of propellants, that is to say fuel, which are not those traditionally used, since it is a combination of oxygen and methane. He chose methane precisely because it is a material that could be manufactured in situ on the Moon or Mars. It’s a somewhat original combination. He controls it since the rocket takes off, it remained straight as an i throughout this launch. And above all, what happened brilliantly was the separation of the two floors. The first stage, Super Heavy, is the one with its famous 33 reactors which develop the power allowing the whole to free itself from Earth’s attraction. And the upper stage, which is also called Starship, is the one which, after improvements and adaptations, will be able to allow the moon landing in the Artemis III scenario for the return of astronauts to the Moon.
The calendar predicts this return to the Moon in 2025. Is it tenable?
It seems untenable, we won’t make it. Obviously, Musk himself is a victim of his relationship to the calendar in all his activities. It’s like that. He always promises things with incredible deadlines, but you always have to be careful with him because if he says he’s going to do something in three months, it doesn’t work in three months, but it might work in a year. So it’s a safe bet that this devil of a man will get there. It will be extremely complicated to have humans live on Mars, but all the steps that will precede, sending a crew of explorers to Mars with a rocket like the Starship, is a scenario that seems less and less improbable.