Originally Posted by
atakacs
I muss confess that I am someone baffled by this whole Starship thing... Obviously mishaps can occur but you usually test discrete components and when you are reasonably convinced they will work reliably you assemble the whole thing for an actual test launch. What's the point of blowing 4 full rockets without even getting off the ground ? Seems a very weird way of operating.
You are entirely correct, Musk is not blowing up whole rockets. The several 'Starships' that have failed so impressively are all plumbing prototypes, built to verify the structural and pressure integrity of this stainless steel pressure hull.
This most recent failed article would have eventually been outfitted to serve as a hopper test vehicle, but was lost on the first engine test firing.
The surprise to me is that this basic plumbing is so tricky, this is the third time that there appears to have been a valve sequencing malfunction.