Two months after the previous flight, SpaceX teams at Starbase, Texas, are on the home stretch for Starship’s fourth liftoff. This time again, they will not aim for orbit, but will try to progress on the major points which will make it possible to quickly make the vehicle reusable.
This May 20, it was the now familiar sight of a fully assembled Starship with its large SuperHeavy propulsion stage which welcomed visitors to the landscape of Starbase, the SpaceX base on the Texas coast, a stone’s throw from the Mexican border. . It was impossible to get any closer that day, because the teams were conducting a new test. Starship SN29 and booster BN11 underwent a simulated countdown together, including the filling of their gigantic tanks. The test was successful, according to SpaceX, which should logically quickly lead to the flight campaign for this vehicle. Elon Musk announces takeoff for “ in about two weeks », which is consistent with previous flight tests!
If this is the case, the Starbase teams will have once again demonstrated that they are capable of accelerating the pace of takeoffs, going from 4 months to less than a quarter between flights. This rate should increase further this year, given the number of examples which are in the final stage of their assembly within the “Starfactory”, a few kilometers from the test site.
Progress for reuse
So far, each Starship takeoff has shown significant progress compared to the previous flight. During the 3e fired in March, the SuperHeavy booster managed to send the Starship to the edge of space before turning around and attempting to land at a precise position in the Gulf of Mexico. But it failed to stabilize and, above all, to properly restart its engines. One of the objectives of this fourth shot will therefore be to try to correct these problems. If successful, the teams consider recovering the booster from flight number 5. But everything still has to fit together as planned.
For its part, Starship SN29 will also have an arduous task, related to its future reuse. After an insertion into quasi-orbit (in reality a ballistic trajectory which will take it above the Indian Ocean), it will try to survive, thanks to its shield with 18,000 thermal tiles, a crossing and atmospheric braking. During the 3e flight, this stage did not go well, notably due to orientation problems. The Starship was spinning, and the door that simulated a payload ejection had not closed properly.
NASA doesn’t miss a beat
So, will the Californian company manage to do better than in March? The head of the HLS project for Artemis, which should use Starship to land American astronauts on the Moon by 2026 (date announced), above all expects the industrialist to demonstrate the acquired reliability of its system. That is, Starship can once again reach space without major problems.
And indeed, in wanting to observe improvements with each flight (obviously, there is still a lot to prove), we should not forget the essential: before returning to land, Starship must reach space. Often. The upcoming shot will participate in this.
Source : ArsTechnica
2