SpaceX could launch the most powerful rocket in history – 04/15/2023 – Science

In November last year, NASA celebrated the launch of the Artemis 1 mission with the SLS rocket, then promoted as the most powerful in the world in operation. Indeed it was. But it may lose its position as early as next Monday (17), when SpaceX intends to launch its Starship vehicle for the first time.

At 120 meters, the powerful two-stage launcher is the largest rocket ever built in history. By propelling itself into Earth orbit, it will break all records for space transport capacity, surpassing even the Saturn V, used in the 1960s and 1970s by the American space program for the Apollo lunar missions.

There’s more: SpaceX’s ambition is for the system to be fully reusable, with the two stages (a booster, called Super Heavy, and the ship itself, Starship) capable of landing autonomously.

For the inaugural flight, however, the ambitions are much more modest: in the clumsy style of Elon Musk (founder and CEO of SpaceX), the company will be satisfied if the giant manages to leave the launch pad safely. Everything that comes after is taken as a profit by the engineers involved in the project.

The team, however, considers itself ready to fly. A flight readiness review was conducted this past weekend, with the vehicle already mounted on the platform, and with it came the decision not to conduct a wet dress rehearsal (i.e. fueling the rocket and counting down to moment the engines would fire), skipping right into an actual launch attempt.

The last pending issue, at least from a bureaucratic point of view, was an authorization from the FAA (American Federal Aviation Agency), responsible for controlling private rocket flights, granted late Friday afternoon (14).

SpaceX operates its Starship development trials from the facility it calls Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. It is on the border with Mexico, overlooking the gulf, in a desert region, but with a considerable presence of wildlife. The FAA’s primary concern was the environmental impact of the operation. According to the agency, the rocket company has responded to 75 requests to comply with safety requirements.

With the license in hand, SpaceX selected the next Monday (17) as the date for the test – it will take place between 9 am and 11:30 am (Brasília time). In addition, the 18th and 19th were indicated as reserves in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

It will not be surprising, however, if all three dates are not used due to some technical problem.

The first launch of a new rocket is always complicated. NASA, with its relatively familiar SLS (heavily based on technologies developed for the old space shuttles), originally intended to launch Artemis 1 on Aug. 29 of last year, but the mission ended up departing on Nov. 16.

When the Starship actually launches, it could become a watershed in the history of space exploration.

TO THE MOON AND BEYOND

The Starship program was born as an independent initiative of SpaceX, and with another name: Interplanetary Transport System. This is the system with which Elon Musk hopes to one day promote the colonization of Mars.

For that to happen, the cost of each launch needs to drop dramatically, which is only possible if the vehicles are cheap, reusable, require a lot of maintenance between flights, can be refueled in space and are capable of using fuel easily produced on the red planet.

These were the requirements that guided the conception of the Starship: a huge vehicle, with no less than 33 engines in the first stage (the largest number ever used in a rocket), powered by liquid methane and oxygen. That’s because it’s simple to produce them from water and carbon dioxide, two natural resources abundantly available on Mars.

It seemed more like Musk’s delusion. Until NASA itself began to believe. By deciding that it would acquire a manned landing module for the Artemis program through competition, the agency ended up opting for the Starship program, leaving behind more conservative designs (such as Blue Origin, by Jeff Bezos) and more traditional companies. (like the giant Boeing).

At that point, Starship is already contracted to make the landings of the Artemis 3 and 4 missions (at a cost of US$ 4.05 billion), which means that there will be no astronauts walking on the Moon anytime soon if the SpaceX project fail. It is a high-risk bet for NASA, with proportionally high benefits in case of success.

The vehicle will be able to transport more than a hundred tons to the lunar surface – something like taking a Boeing 747 with a full cargo area. This would make building a Moon base a much simpler process.

In practice, it would change all the rules of the game in space exploration. To this day, the effort is always to make satellites and payloads as small and light as possible. Remember how the James Webb Space Telescope, with its 6.5 meter segmented mirror, had to go all the way inside the Ariane 5 rocket hood? On the Starship, with a diameter of 9 meters, you can fit a mirror much larger than the Webb’s — and without bending it.

A host of other applications could become possible, such as transporting people and cargo from point to point anywhere on Earth in less than an hour. The Pentagon, by the way, is eyeing the Starship as a possible transport for its military operations.

However, the vehicle will need to function as advertised. And it all starts with this first test. At best, we’ll see the first stage lift off, complete its ascent work, separate from the second stage, and descend for a “landing” on the sea surface in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX will not try to recover it, but wants to train the ability to maneuver it for future ground landings.

The second stage will then use its engines (three for propulsion in space and another three for maneuvering in the atmosphere) to reach orbital speed, make almost an entire revolution around the Earth and then re-enter the atmosphere, making a high-speed dive into the sea. , close to Hawaii.

If all this goes well, or if at least the Starship reaches orbit, SpaceX could say it has the most powerful rocket ever launched in the history of space exploration.