SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket, ultimately intended for trips to the Moon and Mars, was “lost” during re-entry into the atmosphere as it descended toward Earth, the company said Thursday. However, it flew much longer during this third test flight, the previous ones having ended in explosions.
“The ship has been lost,” announced a commentator during the live video from billionaire Elon Musk’s company. “So no landing today,” he added. The vessel was, according to the flight plan, to end its course in the Indian Ocean.
The head of SpaceX acknowledged that his rocket would have to carry out hundreds of uncrewed missions before eventually carrying its first humans.
Takeoff for this third test flight took place shortly after 8 a.m. local time (2 p.m. in Switzerland) from SpaceX’s “Starbase” space base in Boca Chica, in the far south of Texas, and lasted nearly half a year. hour. This flight nevertheless allowed the spacecraft to reach low Earth orbit for the first time.
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Settle humanity on Mars
At 120 meters high, Starship is the largest rocket in the world. She is also the most powerful. SpaceX is banking on it to achieve its stated goal: making humanity a multi-planetary species by installing it on Mars.
Its development is also very important for NASA, which is counting on this spacecraft to land its astronauts on the Moon during its mission. Artemis IIIplanned for 2026.
The rocket is made up of two stages: the Super Heavy propulsion stage and above it the Starship, which by extension gives its name to the entire rocket.
Two unsuccessful tests
The last test took place four months ago. The rocket’s two stages had successfully separated in flight for the first time, but then both exploded. The flights then lasted only four minutes, during the first test, and eight, during the second.
>> Reread: Both stages of the Starship rocket exploded after separation and SpaceX’s Starship rocket explodes in flight shortly after liftoff
The ship, however, had reached an altitude of approximately 150 kilometers, exceeding the edge of space.
SpaceX then proposed to the American air regulator, the FAA, 17 “corrective measures”, which had to be put in place to obtain a new flight license, finally obtained on Wednesday.
“Ambitious goals”
For this third test, SpaceX said it wanted to accomplish several “ambitious objectives”. Among them: carrying out “a controlled reentry” of the vessel, which should have fallen back into the Indian Ocean to end the test, after about an hour.
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SpaceX also wanted to test the opening of the hatch which could be used in the future to release cargo, for example satellites, into space.
The company also wanted to carry out the “demonstration of a fuel transfer” in flight. According to the specialist press, this transfer should have taken place between two tanks inside the vessel. Developing this function is essential, because to reach the Moon, Starship will have to refuel once in space, thanks to a vessel previously filled by others, and serving as a sort of space service station.
Besides its disproportionate size, the real innovation of Starship is that it must ultimately be entirely reusable. Currently, only the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returns to land after each launch to be reused.