SpaceX's pressure on the US government had an effect Fifth Starship release A month and a half ahead of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) planned date.
The flight license hasn't been approved yet, but it looks imminent, so SpaceX has sent out notice to sailors and is finalizing preparations to launch the new Starship on Sunday, October 13. I've already cleared my agenda for the weekend because this release evokes strong emotions.
An unusual maneuver
Starship Flight 4, which took place in early June, was the most complete to date. The ship took off without incident, separated from its propulsion and landed in the planned area of the Indian Ocean; Very burnt, but still manageable.
He Super heavy propellantFor its part, it completed the return maneuver and simulated a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico. It was such a huge success that SpaceX has incredibly ambitious plans for its successor.
If there are no delays and the flight license arrives on time, Starship Flight 5 will depart Starbase (Texas) at 7:00 a.m. local time on Sunday. 2:00 PM in Spain. SpaceX will launch Booster 12 and Ship 30, which has a more sophisticated and resistant heat shield than Ship 29 from the previous flight.
The booster, or super-heavy propellant, is the stage of the rocket that is responsible for liftoff and most of the ascent phase. It has 33 Raptor 2 engines and It is 70 meters high. During the fifth test, SpaceX will try to improve its Starship Rapid Reuse programs, returning Booster 12 to its launch site.
The objective is to maneuver the rocket with its mobile engines to position itself next to the 140-meter-tall missile tower. The tower, which SpaceX calls the Megacilla, will attempt to hold the booster in flight with two large mechanical arms to place it on the launch pad.
This is what SpaceX plans to do regularly in the future, so that the SuperHeavy flies several times a day, sending Starships into orbit with no time to lose, either to survey the Starlink satellite constellation or to colonize Mars. Elon Musk.
Thousands of conditions
SpaceX will make every effort to minimize the risk of a catastrophic impact or super-heavy explosion at its ground facilities, Megacilla tower or launch pad.
Once the booster separates from the ship, en route to another simulated landing in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, SpaceX will decide to approve or cancel Booster 12's capture maneuver.
SpaceX engineers spent months simulating Rocket capture attempt and testing on the ground, but testing must meet thousands of criteria on the vehicle and platform to move forward.
This will be a semi-automatic process. If health checks show unacceptable conditions at any point, the booster will repeat Flight 4's trajectory, ending with a burnout and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
If the rocket and turret are healthy, the flight director will manually send the command to booster 12 to return to the launch pad. Then we see the capture attempt for the first time.
The launch of Starship, the world's tallest rocket, was already exciting. The missile tower's hands-off effort won't stop biting its claws between now and Sunday. The flight will be telecast live on 5X.
Picture | SpaceX
In Xataka | Elon Musk wants to try extreme maneuvering on the next Starship flight. First, the government should allow it
