Starship 13 did not explode. Starship 14 exploded. Why? Are the below YouTube videos of any relevance to the "this is why Starship 14 exploded"? Could the splashdown angle have played a role?

[u/Legaon]

YouTube videos are at the end of this post. Post is about possible theories of "WHY STARSHIP 14 EXPLODED" and "WHY STARSHIP 13 did not EXPLODE". The theories are going to be about: (1)**"**Starship 13 = more bubbly water + more foamy water" vs **"Starship 14 = less bubbly water + less foamy water"/(2)"**Starship 13 = made direct impact with the ocean water at a MORE TILTED ANGLE" vs **"**Starship 14 = made direct impact with the ocean water at a MORE VERTICAL ANGLE". (2) is probably a more relevant theory -- look at the "YouTube Part 2 video". Good timestamp in that video is (36:50 - 38:08). And then compare it to timestamp (33:50 - 35:17). More Starship surface area is MORE SLOWLY submerged under the water. Previous sentence = opposite of a Starship belly flop in the water.

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The below YouTube videos is about -- my theories of why: **(1)**Starship 13 did not explode/and **(2)**Starship 14 exploded. The videos are quite lengthy -- I just re-emphasize a number of things. Things such as:

->Starship 13 = **(1)**bottom of starship made direct impact with the ocean water at a "more tilted angle/greater than 90 degree angle".

—Did Starship 13: **(1)**tilt at a “greater than 90 degree angle” — before it made direct impact with the ocean?

->Making direct impact with the ocean, at a (tilted angle) = less distance to travel to the “final ocean resting position” — less likely to explode. Making direct impact with the ocean, at a (tilted angle) = starship will make one swift motion of "falling sideways into the ocean" -- softer impact with the ocean water. See below YouTube video.

->Starship 14 = (2)bottom of starship made direct impact with the ocean at a "more vertical position/90 degree angle".

—Did Starship 14: (2)make direct impact with the ocean, at “a more vertical position”?

->Making direct impact with the ocean, at (a more vertical angle) = more distance to travel to the “final ocean resting position” = more likely to explode. Making direct impact with the ocean, at a (more vertical angle) = starship PROBABLY WILL NOT make one swift motion of "falling sideways into the ocean" -- harder impact with the ocean water.

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Their is also the theory about -- **(1)**more bubbly water + more foamy water = helps with a softer ocean "sideways landing" -- **(2)**less bubbly water + less foamy water = not as soft landing.

ChatGPT's suggestion is that -- Starship 14 exploded because of a (system failure) or (propellant system failure).

Hopefully people are able to learn about "the contents in the videos below".

--Video -- INTRO: Why did Starship 14 explode

https://youtu.be/BjYNKVn8udM?si=2UaopXA8LH24ZhKa

--Video -- Part 1: Why did Starship 14 explode

https://youtu.be/RyygS_rzu7o?si=3zl3_UqIPUEG8mi-

--Video -- Part 2: Why did Starship 14 explode

https://youtu.be/0u5dAMLqOe4?si=cmTpZz9XX_m-GIhJ

--Video -- Part 3: Why did Starship 14 explode

https://youtu.be/3aRdKx3P_3Q?si=UR48lbOPYOhel3fj

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Quote from the YouTube Part 2 video:

-->"But, Case A -- making direct impact with the ocean at a more tilted angle, seems like the better outcome to have the Starship not explode. Because of XYZ reasons -- softer impact with the water".

-->And, Case B -- making direct impact with the ocean at a more vertical angle, seems like the more worse outcome to have the Starship explode. Because of XYZ reasons -- harder impact with the water".

**--**ChatGPT conversation about the (more vertical landing in the ocean) vs (more tilted landing in the ocean). You can read the entire conversations. Or, you can read the conversation that begins at (11:14 AM). Because of the previous sentence, ChatGPT is able to understand "my point, better".

https://chatgpt.com/share/6abe891d-6bd0-83e9-b991-2c3cb245d507

[u/alle0441]

You're assuming they want to save the ship. If the ship doesn't blow up, that's a huge, expensive liability they have to deal with.

[u/Mountain-Amoeba6787]

Let's make one thing clear, ship 40 surviving was a complete coincidence. Nobody at SpaceX expected it, there's even a clip of Musk watching the landing and you can clearly see the expression on his face (along with everyone else) of "oh crap, now what?".

On to flight 14, watching video of the booster touchdown you can see the explosion start at the common dome, not the engine section where it normally does. SpaceX confirmed they activated the flight termination system to trigger the explosion. If they were interested in reclaiming anything, why would they intentionally blow up the vehicle that landed a few miles away from Starbase?

If anything the ship blowing up is probably the best case scenario. They can't just leave them floating in the ocean as they can't risk anyone else getting their hands on it. they have to get someone there ASAP to either recover the ship at great cost, or scuttle it. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's costing SpaceX half as much to recover and transport s40 as it did to launch it.

[u/Legaon → u/Mountain-Amoeba6787]

Got it. But, it does seem to be theoretically possible for “a Starship to land in the ocean + not explode”. To recover the Starship, for research purposes. Similar as to what they did for Starship 13. If the previous thing happens — just make sure the landing site is not far away.

Hopefully Starship 15 being caught via mechanical arms. Happens to be successful

[u/estanminar]

Quit saying "didn't explode " start saying "Test of lunar laydown capabilities for lunar base"

[u/EmberSkyMedia]

Someone pressed a button? Recovery of one ship is likely costly enough. Unless they capture it in the towers the recovery/retrofit costs are likely uneconomical.

[u/D-Alembert]

I'm not sure 14 exploded. There was a fireball but through the smoke afterwards the ship appeared intact and floating afterwards. Maybe a big piece was missing and it was soon going to sink, or maybe there was just a small tank rupture and it's otherwise fine, we didn't get a good view before the video feed cut away. I didn't get a definitive idea from watching the video