The third story focused on the appeal of SpaceX’s Starship Megarocket launch on Tuesday, which was postponed twice in recent days. This successful 10th flight demonstrated that the spacecraft has triumphed over previous challenges associated with Mars Rocket’s reusable design.
The stainless steel giant, standing 403 feet tall (123 meters), was lifted from the company’s star base in southern Texas at 6:30 PM local time (2330 GMT), with the engineering team celebrating loudly on the webcast. The mission aimed to test the ship’s new heat shield tiles and satellite deployment capabilities, featuring numerous upgrades from earlier versions.
As planned, the top half of the rocket separated from the Super Heavy booster. This first stage, measuring 232 feet, usually lands on a giant catch arm at the launch tower but targeted Gulf of Mexico waters this time to test an alternative landing engine.
Shortly after reaching space, satellite deployment systems, including Starship’s “Pez,” distributed mock Starlink satellites for the first time.
The spaceship achieved a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean, marking a crucial milestone in testing rockets that had been destroyed in previous flights after experiencing intense heat during atmospheric re-entry.
The 10th test flight follows a series of explosive failures, raising doubts about whether the world’s most powerful launch vehicle will aid in colonizing Mars or if NASA can realize founder Elon Musk’s vision of assisting astronauts in returning to the moon.
SpaceX opted not to attempt to recover boosters from Tuesday’s flight, focusing instead on in-flight experiments to “collect real-world performance data on future flight profiles and scenarios.”
Monday’s launch was canceled due to thick clouds lingering overhead for much of the day, leading to a delay just 40 seconds before the countdown ended. Sunday’s attempt was scrubbed due to liquid oxygen leaks on the Starship launch pad, as billionaire Musk mentioned on X overnight.
Following the last three flights, many were concerned after the rocket suffered explosions—twice in the Caribbean and once after reaching space. In June, the upper stage exploded during ground testing.
“We’ve conducted numerous tests but haven’t achieved reliability,” noted Dallas Kasaboski, a space analyst at the consulting firm Anacys Mason, in an interview with AFP. “Success doesn’t outweigh failure.”
The objective is to send upper stage ships carrying crews and cargo around the globe before departing from northwest Australia.
Equipped with prototype heat shield materials, it deployed a dummy Starlink satellite while flying on a trajectory designed to stress-test the rear flap.
Known as Super Heavy, the booster is expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX had previously surprised observers by catching boosters using the “chopstick arm” at the launch tower; however, this flight will prioritize data collection under less-than-ideal flight conditions.
This year, two spacecraft tests failed early in the flight, alongside another failure in space during the ninth flight, and a “devastating explosion” during ground testing in June, forcing the spacecraft to fly into nearby Mexican territory, testing SpaceX’s capital-intensive approach to operational development.
This approach contrasts sharply with SpaceX’s competitors, like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The New Glenn Rocket made its operational debut in January after years spent on ground development and testing. The United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Rocket, co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, underwent a similar upbringing before its 2024 debut.
Despite recent setbacks, the spacecraft isn’t viewed as being at a crucial juncture. SpaceX’s “Fail Fast, Learn Fast” philosophy positions it ahead of Falcon rocket launches, while Dragon Capsules ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and Starlink becomes a geopolitical asset.
Nevertheless, Starship introduces new challenges. Musk identifies the development of a fully reusable orbital heat shield as the most daunting task, noted that restoring heat shielding for the Space Shuttle took nine months between flights.
“Our goal with the spaceship is to create a heat shield that can be used immediately,” he stated during a webcast on Monday.
SpaceX’s Starlink Satellite Internet enterprise is also intertwined with Starship’s success, a major source of corporate revenue. Musk aims to use Starship to launch larger batches of Starlink satellites, which have been deployed using SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
Musk remains optimistic, asserting, “In about six to seven years, there will be days when Starships will be launched more than 24 times in 24 hours,” he replied to X users on Sunday.
Another hurdle is to demonstrate that the spacecraft can refuel in orbit using supercooled propellants. This step is critical yet untested for a vehicle aiming to undertake deep space missions.
Preparing a modified version of NASA’s Lunar Lander for 2027 will take time, as Musk aims to send a non-white-knuckle spacecraft to Mars next year.
Source: www.theguardian.com
