2023-11-18 13:29:38
The Starship rocket system was also unable to successfully complete the second test flight. Both rocket stages exploded shortly following separating on Saturday. A first attempt had already failed in the spring.
Onlookers watch the launch of the Starship from the launch site in Boca Chica in south Texas.
Go Nakamura / Archyde.com
The American space company SpaceX launched its newly developed giant rocket into space on Saturday. The Starship lifted off from the spaceport in Boca Chica in south Texas at 2:03 p.m. (CET). With a roar and shrouded in dust, it quickly gained altitude. After almost three minutes, the Starship separated from the first rocket stage as planned. The main goal of the mission was thus achieved.
The Starship shortly before the separation of the two rocket stages. At this point everything still looked like a success.
Eric Gay / AP
Shortly followingwards, however, the first rocket stage exploded. The Starship initially continued its flight into space. A few minutes later, however, contact with him broke off. Instead of circling the earth once and landing in the ocean 90 minutes following take-off, the Starship was probably blown up automatically. The reasons for this are still unclear.
At this point, the rocket had reached an altitude of 150 kilometers, crossing the border into space. Even if not all objectives of the test flight were achieved, it represents progress compared to the first attempt.
During the current test flight, the Starship was still unmanned. In a few years, however, it will take astronauts to the moon and, at some point, to Mars. Together with NASA’s moon rocket, the Starship is intended to usher in a new era in American manned space travel.
Watch Starship’s second integrated flight test https://t.co/cahoRQ72lm
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 17, 2023
The first launch ends with an explosion
The Starship’s first test flight in April of this year was a resounding failure. The two-stage rocket initially rose from the ground. However, images showed that 3 of the 33 engines in the first rocket stage had not ignited. Shortly followingwards, more engines failed. The rocket still gained altitude, but went out of control before the first stage might separate from the second stage. Actually, the automatic flight abort system should have blown up the rocket. But the system didn’t respond immediately. It took 40 seconds for the rocket, which had now gone into a spin, to explode.
Everything still looked good here. The Starship will lift off from the spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20.
Go Nakamura / Archyde.com
But the flight ended with an explosion a few minutes following takeoff.
Joe Skipper / Archyde.com
There was also a picture of devastation on the starting area. The enormous thrust of the engines not only kicked up huge amounts of dust and sand. Larger debris also came loose from the concrete foundation beneath the rocket and was thrown up to 500 meters away. Since SpaceX’s rocket launch site is located in the middle of a nature reserve, environmentalists spoke out. They called on the FAA to prepare a comprehensive environmental report before issuing a new launch permit. That would have delayed the start indefinitely.
The FAA chose a middle ground. It made the launch authorization for the Starship dependent on 63 corrections that SpaceX had to make to increase safety. Some of these corrections affected the rocket itself, some affected the control and safety system. The FAA also called for changes to the takeoff area.
SpaceX has complied with these demands in recent months. A water-cooled steel plate underneath the rocket is intended to prevent the concrete foundation from being pulverized by the heat of the engines. In addition to the requested changes, SpaceX has also made its own corrections.
The most important concerns the separation of the two rocket stages. During the first launch, the Starship’s engines should only be fired following it has separated from the first rocket stage (called Super Heavy). During the current launch, the Starship’s engines fired while the two stages were still connected. The advantage is that the rocket needs less fuel to reach space. However, the Super Heavy is briefly exposed to the Starship’s hot exhaust gases. It is not yet possible to say whether this was the reason for the explosion of the first rocket stage.
More powerful than the Saturn V rocket
The Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Not only does it overshadow NASA’s new moon rocket – the so-called Space Launch System. The Starship also develops almost twice as much thrust as the legendary Saturn V rocket that carried the first American astronauts to the moon in the 1960s.
Heavy-lift rockets in comparison
More thrust means larger payloads. In the future, the Starship will be able to carry loads of 100 tons or more into near-Earth orbit. First and foremost, SpaceX itself benefits from this. With the Starship, the company will be able to expand its Starlink satellite network even faster than before. SpaceX can currently deploy around 20 satellites into space per flight. With the Starship there will be 50 to 100. The competition has nothing to counter this.
The Starship might also advance into new dimensions in terms of price. There is no official information regarding the costs yet. However, Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has suggested that a flight in the future might cost less than $10 million. With a freight capacity of 100 tons or more, this would mean that customers would have to pay less than $100 per kilogram of freight in the future. Before SpaceX came onto the scene, the price was in the region of $10,000 per kilogram. This gives an idea of how much the Starship might inspire manned and unmanned space travel.
This is possible because SpaceX has consistently focused on reusing rockets since it was founded in 2002. The most expensive component of a rocket is usually the first rocket stage. After takeoff, it is usually thrown off and lands in the sea. Not so with SpaceX. When the work is done, the rocket stage returns to Earth and lands vertically on the ground or on a floating platform in the sea. After minimal repairs, she is ready for further flights. Some of the rocket stages have now flown more than a dozen times. And yet SpaceX has not had a single false start in recent years.
With the Starship, SpaceX goes even one step further. For the first time, the company wants to reuse not only the first rocket stage, the Super Heavy, but also the second. Both stages are intended to land vertically on later flights and then be prepared for the next flight.
At the moment, however, this is still a thing of the future. Saturday’s flight was primarily intended to test the engines and the separation of the two rocket stages. A soft landing was not yet planned. This will only be on the program for the next test flights.
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