The third test flight of SpaceX’s immense Starship rocket, intended for trips to the Moon and Mars, ended Thursday with the loss of the vessel as it returned to Earth, but the American space company congratulated herself on an “incredible day” after a flight much longer than the two previous tests.
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This rocket, the most powerful and largest in the world (120 meters), had never flown “so far and so fast,” declared a commentator during the video broadcast of the company of billionaire Elon Musk.
This live video showed impressive images of the craft flying above Earth, then illuminated with orange plasma as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, under the effect of heat caused by friction.
AFP
“Huge congratulations to all the teams on this incredible day,” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s number 2, wrote on X, listing all the milestones achieved during the flight.
Liftoff took place early Thursday morning from SpaceX’s “Starbase” space base in Boca Chica, in far south Texas.
After two first tests completed in spectacular explosions last year, SpaceX this time said it wanted to accomplish several new “ambitious objectives”.
The rocket is made up of two stages: the Super Heavy propulsion stage and, above it, the Starship, which by extension gives its name to the entire rocket.
The two stages successfully separated a few minutes after takeoff.
Super Heavy was then supposed to land softly in the Gulf of Mexico, but was not completely successful in this maneuver and experienced a “hard landing”, according to one commentator.
AFP
The ship continued its course for about an hour. It has gone well beyond the frontier of space, reaching an altitude of more than 200 km according to SpaceX.
It then had to fall back into the Indian Ocean to complete the test (without surviving the impact). But the ship was “lost” on its way back to Earth, one commentator said.
It was the first time that SpaceX tested the effectiveness of Starship’s heat shield, made up of 18,000 black ceramic tiles, during such a flight.
The American air regulator (FAA) then announced, as during the two previous tests, that it would supervise an investigation, led by SpaceX, into the incidents concerning both Super Heavy and the spacecraft.
AFP
Fuel transfer
Billionaire Elon Musk’s company is banking on Starship to achieve its goal of making humanity a multi-planetary species by installing it on Mars.
Its development is also very important for NASA, which is counting on this spacecraft to land its astronauts on the Moon during its Artemis 3 mission, planned for 2026.
NASA boss Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on Thursday, calling the test flight “successful.”
During the flight, SpaceX also tested the opening of the hatch which could be used in the future to release cargo, for example satellites, into space.
The company was also expected to carry out an in-flight fuel transfer but its success has yet to be confirmed, according to Gwynne Shotwell.
This transfer was to take place between two tanks inside the vessel, according to the specialist press.
Developing this function is essential because to reach the Moon, Starship will have to refuel once in space, thanks to a vessel previously filled by others and serving as a space service station.
The SpaceX method
For these tests, the prototypes used do not carry any cargo. And SpaceX has already manufactured several copies of its rocket.
SpaceX’s development method is different from that of traditional companies and national space agencies.
If these operate with taxpayer money, SpaceX can take more risks using its own funds.
The company also claims an iterative development technique, based on successive tests linked together at a rapid pace – even if they end in explosions.
The lessons learned then allow changes to be made quickly.
“It’s always better to sacrifice equipment than to sacrifice time,” Elon Musk declared to employees in January.
The development of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets, which with 96 successful missions in 2023 today dominate the American launch market, was also based on multiple apparently failed tests.
In addition to its disproportionate size, the real innovation of Starship is that it must ultimately be entirely reusable, in order to reduce costs. Currently, only the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returns to land after each launch to be reused.
