The most potent rocket in the world, Starship, made its third test flight on Thursday, traveling farther and faster than ever before before losing contact with the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, according to SpaceX.
Around 8:25 a.m. local time (13:25 a.m. GMT), the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, launched. The launch was broadcast live on a webcast that was viewed by millions of people on social media platform X.
Elon Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars in the future, as well as NASA’s aspirations to land humans on the Moon later this decade, depend heavily on the svelte mega rocket.
“After a successful test flight, @SpaceX deserves congratulations!” tweeted NASA administrator Bill Nelson.
After two previous attempts at launch resulted in spectacular explosions, all eyes were on Thursday’s launch. However, this isn’t always a bad thing because the business has accelerated development by using a fast trial-and-error technique, which has led to multiple successes in the past.
Goals achieved
The aggregate height of the two tiers of Starship is 397 feet (121 meters), comfortably surpassing the Statue of Liberty by ninety feet.
The thrust produced by its Super Heavy Booster is 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons), nearly twice as much as that of the second-most powerful rocket in the world, the Space Launch System of NASA. However, the Space Launch System is currently certified, whereas Starship is still a prototype.
The third launch test of Starship in its fully stacked configuration was the most ambitious to date, and many of the business’s goals were achieved, according to the corporation.
Among them was testing Starship’s payload door opening and shutting to see if it could send satellites into space.
An onboard camera captured high definition video of the Starship coasting in space, with the Earth’s arc apparent in the distance. It reached a height of more than 200 kilometers above sea level and a maximum speed of more than 26,000 kilometers per hour.
The engineers cheered as the starship descended over the Indian Ocean after traveling halfway around the world and glowing red hot thanks to its 18,000 hexagonal tile heat shield.
Before it could accomplish its ultimate objective of splashing down, however, ground control ceased receiving signals, and broadcasters deemed the vessel “lost.” Additionally, the lower-stage booster was unable to complete a successful sea landing; hence, the Federal Aviation Administration said that an inquiry into the “mishap” will be launched.
After the project, Musk, the wealthy founder of the firm, highlighted the advancements by writing on X, “Starship will make life multi-planetary.”
Testing in the real world
In April 2023, the first-ever “integrated” test was conducted. The two stages failed to separate, forcing SpaceX to blow up Starship a few minutes after launch.
A dust cloud covered a hamlet many miles distant as the rocket broke apart into a ball of flames and plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico.
The second test, which took place in November 2023, went somewhat better: once the launcher and spaceship parted, they both exploded over the ocean, in an event the firm euphemistically referred to as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
According to a January analysis by research firm Payload, SpaceX now spends about $90 million building each Starship.
In the past, SpaceX’s approach of conducting tests outside of labs has proven successful.
Its Dragon capsule transports people and goods to the International Space Station, its Falcon 9 rockets are now the backbone of both NASA and the commercial space industry, and its Starlink constellation of internet satellites now spans more than twenty countries.
However, SpaceX has limited time to prepare for NASA’s scheduled 2026 return of astronauts to the Moon, which would use a modified Starship as the lander vehicle.
China is closing the gap, aiming to set foot on the Moon for the first time in 2030.
SpaceX must eventually demonstrate that it can send numerous “Starship tankers” into orbit to refuel a main Starship at supercooled temperatures so that it may continue on to the Moon. In addition, SpaceX must demonstrate that it can launch, fly, and land Starship safely.
