less than A month has passed since historic 5th flight While filming SpaceX’s Starship, the company returned to its launch pad in Texas to capture the booster with a mechanical arm. Now, another test flight could take place as early as November 18, the company announced Wednesday.
The recovery of Starship’s first stage by Chopsticks last month, and the unlikely but successful splashdown of Starship’s upper stage half way around the world, led SpaceX to an anomaly investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. was able to be avoided. Therefore, the company could proceed with a sixth test flight if flown with a similar profile.
And that’s what SpaceX plans to do, albeit with some notable additions to the flight plan.
Shining a light on birds of prey in space
in Statement on websiteSpaceX said the first stage, known as Super Heavy, will fly in a similar trajectory to the fifth test flight on October 13. However, the booster’s hardware and software will be modified based on learnings from last month’s test flight.
“Hardware upgrades for this flight added additional redundancy to the booster propulsion system, increasing structural strength in key areas and reducing the timeline for removing propellant from the booster after a successful capture. ” the company said. “Mission designers also updated the software controls and committed to the booster launch and return criteria.”
Starship’s upper stage will also fly the same suborbital trajectory it successfully completed in October, but it will also relight one of the rocket’s six engines mid-flight. As Ars explained in a feature last week, this Starship development path This is important to enable controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere on Starship orbital missions.
Successful demonstration of the ability to relight the Raptor in space could allow SpaceX to begin flying commercial missions with Starship, paving the way for a Starlink launch, possibly early next year There is sex. These larger Starlink satellites fit only within Starship’s larger payload and provide direct-to-cell internet capabilities.
The company also plans to use Starship’s next flight to evaluate new tiles and other elements in the vehicle’s heat shield.
“Several thermal protection experiments and operational modifications will test the limits of Starship’s capabilities and generate flight data to inform vessel capture and reuse plans,” the company statement said. “Flight testing will see the removal of entire sections of heat shield tiles on each side of the ship, where new secondary thermal protection materials are being evaluated and captureable hardware for future vehicles is being studied. flies at a higher angle of attack during the final stage of descent, intentionally emphasizing the limits of flap control in order to obtain data on the future landing profile.
final flight of the first spacecraft
Starship’s previous five flights date back to April 2023, and all took off near dawn from South Texas. For future missions, the company plans to explore late-afternoon launch slots that would allow for daytime re-entry into the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX’s update also confirms that this will be the last flight of the initial version of the Starship vehicle, with the next generation featuring redesigned forward flaps, larger propellant tanks, newer tiles and secondary heat. Contains a protective layer.
While it’s impressive that SpaceX has reached a pace of nearly monthly Starship flights in just the second year of the spacecraft’s operation, it’s important to note that SpaceX will require multiple refuelings to support Starship missions to the Moon and Mars. This is also essential if you want to maximize the potential of your rocket. .
Wednesday’s announcement came a day after the U.S. presidential election in which U.S. voters awarded Donald Trump re-election for a second term, but thanks to the all-out efforts of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Trump It is noteworthy that he supported this.
Mr. Musk’s political intervention was highly controversial and alienated a significant portion of the U.S. population and political class. Nevertheless, Mr. Musk’s gamble paid off, as Mr. Trump’s election is likely to accelerate Starship’s development and increase its centrality to the country’s space exploration enterprise.
However, this launch announcement did not require formal regulatory approval for SpaceX to proceed with this sixth attempt, relying almost entirely on the readiness of the company’s hardware, software, and ground systems. The timing is likely a coincidence.
This story was originally ars technica.
