SpaceX is making preparations for the sixth test flight of the world’s strongest rocket, Starship. Elon Musk’s firm has been taking a “fail fast, learn fast” method to analysis and improvement extra akin to the world of Silicon Valley than the aerospace business, and the tempo of launches solely seems to be dashing up.
When is the subsequent flight?
SpaceX says on its web site that it goals to conduct the sixth test flight of Starship on 19 November, with a launch window opening at 4pm Central Time (10pm UK). A livestream of the launch shall be broadcast on SpaceX’s X account, the social media platform additionally owned Musk, or it is possible for you to to observe it right here at newscientist.com
It took SpaceX 18 months to hold out the primary 5 Starship test flights, with the fifth happening in the course of October. If the corporate carries out the sixth subsequent week, it is going to imply a niche of simply over one month because the final flight – its quickest turnaround but.
What will SpaceX try in flight 6?
In some ways, flight 6 shall be a repeat of flight 5, however with a couple of key variations.
The booster stage will once more try a “chopstick” touchdown, wherein the craft is grabbed and secured because it returns to the launchpad, permitting it to be lowered to the bottom. This method is designed to ultimately enable the booster to be re-used a number of instances and massively cut back the price of placing payloads into orbit.
Starship throughout a excessive-altitude test flight
SpaceX
The higher stage will attain house, perform a partial orbit and then re-enter Earth’s ambiance for a splash touchdown within the Indian Ocean. But this time, the higher stage will try to reignite certainly one of its Raptor engines whereas in house in an effort to accumulate helpful operational information. It may even test new warmth defend designs throughout re-entry.
Another distinction is that the launch will happen later within the day in order that the touchdown of the higher stage within the Indian Ocean could be filmed in daylight, making certain larger element. Previous missions have seen evening landings and due to this fact footage – whereas cinematic and dramatic – hasn’t given engineers as a lot perception as video of a daytime touchdown will.
What occurred throughout earlier Starship launches?
Test flight 1 on 20 April 2023 noticed three of the booster stage’s 33 engines fail to ignite. The rocket later span uncontrolled and self-destructed.
The second test flight on 18 November 2023 acquired additional, gaining sufficient altitude that the booster and higher phases separated as deliberate. The booster stage finally exploded earlier than reaching floor degree and the higher stage self-destructed, though not earlier than efficiently reaching house.
Test flight 3 on 14 March 2024 was not less than a partial success, because the higher stage reached house as soon as extra, nevertheless it didn’t return to floor degree intact.
The subsequent flight, on 6 June, noticed the higher stage attain an altitude of greater than 200 kilometres and journey at over 27,000 kilometres per hour. Both the booster and the higher stage accomplished comfortable splashdowns within the ocean.
Test flight 5 was probably the most formidable thus far, with Starship’s Super Heavy booster dropping again to the launch pad and being safely caught by SpaceX’s launch tower, referred to as Mechazilla, in a pair of “chopsticks”. It is provided with a pair of “chopsticks” to seize the craft at a selected level and safe it, permitting it to be lowered to the bottom.
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