Insider Brief
- SpaceX completed the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday afternoon, launching from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, with no crew on board.
- Starship reached space, traveled halfway around the Earth, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. This was the first daylight splashdown for the system, providing new data for SpaceX’s engineers.
- SpaceX decided mid-flight to forgo the orinally planned SuperHeavy booster catch on the launch tower’s arms due to the booster not meeting “commit criteria” for the attempt. Instead, the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
- On this mission, SpaceX tested a range of new features, including reigniting a Starship engine in space and deploying updated elements of its heat shield.
SpaceX completed the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday afternoon, taking another step in the development of its fully reusable spaceflight system. The rocket launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, with no crew on board.
The test flight marked progress for the Starship system, designed to carry cargo and eventually people beyond Earth. After liftoff, Starship reached space, traveled halfway around the Earth, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. This was the first daylight splashdown for the system, providing new data for SpaceX’s engineers.
The company aimed to land the rocket’s Super Heavy booster on the launch tower’s arms after separation. However, SpaceX decided mid-flight to forgo the catch due to the booster not meeting “commit criteria” for the attempt. Instead, the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Each test flight pushes the limits of Starship’s design. On this mission, SpaceX tested a range of new features, including reigniting a Starship engine in space and deploying updated elements of its heat shield. These incremental improvements are critical for refining the system’s performance.
Since its first test flight in April 2023, SpaceX has launched the Starship system six times, steadily increasing its launch cadence. The most recent test featured new hardware upgrades to the booster, aimed at improving redundancy and structural strength. Previous tests revealed timing issues in the booster’s subsystems, which SpaceX addressed in this iteration.
Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. Fully assembled, the system stands 397 feet tall and includes the 232-foot Super Heavy booster, powered by 33 Raptor engines generating 16.7 million pounds of thrust. Starship itself, at 165 feet tall, uses six Raptor engines optimized for atmospheric and space operations. The rocket runs on liquid oxygen and liquid methane, requiring over 10 million pounds of propellant for each launch.
This system is central to NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return astronauts to the moon. NASA awarded SpaceX a multibillion-dollar contract to develop Starship as a lunar lander for crewed missions. With its immense power and fully reusable design, Starship is set to play a pivotal role in advancing human space exploration.
Image credit: SpaceX
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