Tuesday, December 24, 2024

The next Starship launch could be as soon as two weeks away

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Less than A a month has passed since historic fifth flight SpaceX’s Starship, during which the company caught the booster using mechanical arms on a launch pad in Texas. The company announced on Wednesday that the next test flight could take place as early as November 18.

The unlikely but successful “chopstick” recovery of the spacecraft’s first stage last month and the splashdown of the spacecraft’s upper stage on the other side of the world allowed SpaceX to avoid an anomaly investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. In this way, the company was able to continue with a sixth test flight if it flew a similar profile.

And that’s exactly what SpaceX plans to do, albeit with some significant additions to the flight plan.

Igniting the Raptor in space

In statement on its websiteSpaceX says the first stage – known as Super Bulky – would fly on a similar trajectory to the fifth test flight, which took place on October 13. However, the supporting hardware and software will be modified based on findings from last month’s test flight.

“Hardware upgrades for this flight provide additional redundancy to the booster propulsion systems, increase structural strength in key areas and reduce the time to offload fuel from the booster after a successful catch,” the company said. “Mission designers also updated software controls and booster launch and return approval criteria.”

Starship’s upper stage will also fly on the same suborbital trajectory it successfully completed in October, but will involve an in-flight restart of one of the rocket’s six engines. As Ars explained in last week’s article, this is another milestone in the market Starship development path and is critical to enabling Starship orbital missions to make a controlled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Successfully demonstrating the ability to launch Raptors back into space will enable SpaceX to begin commercial flights with Starship and likely pave the way for a Starlink launch, perhaps as early as the first half of next year. These larger Starlink satellites will only fit into the Starship’s roomy payload and will provide the ability to connect directly to the cellular Internet.

During the next Starship flight, the company will also operate it to evaluate modern tiles and other components of the vehicle’s heat shield.

“Several thermal protection and operational change experiments will test the limits of Starship’s capabilities and generate flight data that will aid in vessel capture and reuse planning,” the company said in a statement. “The flight test will evaluate new materials for additional thermal protection and will involve the removal of entire sections of heat shield tiles on both sides of the ship in locations being studied for capture equipment on future vehicles. The craft will also intentionally fly at a higher angle of attack during the final phase of descent, deliberately emphasizing flap control limitations to obtain data on future landing profiles.”

The last flight of the first spacecraft

All five previous Starship flights, dating back to April 2023, departed at dawn from south Texas. For the upcoming mission, the company will look for a overdue afternoon launch window that will allow the vehicle to re-enter the Indian Ocean during the day.

SpaceX’s update also confirms that this will be the final flight of the initial version of Starship, and that the next generation will feature redesigned front flaps, larger fuel tanks, and newer tiles and additional layers of thermal protection.

Reaching a nearly monthly Starship flight frequency in just the second year of the vehicle’s operation is impressive, but it is also necessary if SpaceX wants to unlock the full potential of the rocket, which requires multiple refueling launches to support Starship missions to the Moon or Mars.

Wednesday’s announcement comes a day after the US presidential election, in which American voters awarded Donald Trump a second term, notably helped by the all-out effort of SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Musk’s interventions in politics have been highly controversial and alienated much of the American public and political class. Nevertheless, Musk’s gambit has paid off, as Trump’s election will now likely accelerate Starship’s development and boost its centrality to the nation’s space exploration efforts.

However, the timing of the launch announcement is likely coincidental, as SpaceX did not need formal regulatory approval to proceed with the sixth attempt – it was almost entirely dependent on the readiness of the company’s hardware, software and ground systems.

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

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