SpaceX tries to launch Starship this Friday (17) – 11/16/2023 – Science

Almost seven months after the first integrated flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever made, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, received authorization from the American Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to carry out a second test flight. The launch is scheduled for 10 am (Brasília time) this Friday (17) at the Boca Chica base, in Texas.

From that time on, SpaceX will have a two-hour window to launch the spacecraft, which can be used on missions to the Moon and Mars. If any unforeseen circumstances occur, the test flight may be postponed.

In a statement, the FAA said Musk’s company “met safety, environmental, regulatory and financial responsibility requirements” after the incident in the first orbital test.

On April 20 of this year, the rocket took off for the first time in its complete configuration from the Boca Chica base. But several engines did not work and the two parts (Starship and the propellant) did not separate, which should have occurred three minutes after launch.

The rocket spun a few times in the air, out of control. SpaceX teams then deliberately made it explode after four minutes of flight at a height of 40.23 km. The company’s engineers usually call this detonation by the acronym RUD, or “rapid unscheduled disassembly”.

The only stated objective of the flight was to leave the launch pad safely, which it did. Therefore, SpaceX made a positive analysis of the mission.

“Success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary. Congratulations to the entire team on an exciting first integrated Starship test flight!” company on platform X, formerly Twitter, with the speech aligned with the ambitious mission of colonizing Mars in the not-so-distant future.

After the test ended, the FAA conducted a technical investigation and recommended that SpaceX implement 63 corrective measures before a new launch attempt.

In September, the agency spoke out and attributed the Starship explosion to “multiple causes.” The document summarized some of the corrective actions such as hardware changes to prevent leaks and fires and strengthening the rocket launch pad to avoid a debris and sand storm. In the first launch, the entire platform was disintegrated.

Additionally, a water “deluge” system with spray heads that are released when starting the engines was installed and tested to attenuate acoustic waves and limit counterproductive vibrations.

Starship consists of a reusable capsule approximately 50 meters high, for transporting crew and cargo, located on the Super Heavy first stage propellant, measuring approximately 70 meters and 33 engines, the largest number ever used.

The vehicle generates 7,600 tons of thrust at launch, more than twice the power of the Saturn 5 rockets that took the Apollo mission to the Moon.

The real innovation of the Starship Super Heavy is that it is completely reusable, and the two stages are designed to return and land on its launch pad, which allows it to reduce costs.

NASA is one of the biggest interested in the success of the launch, as it has already scheduled Starship to take astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis 3 mission (currently scheduled for the end of 2025). If confirmed, it will be the first return of humans to the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.