2023-11-17 10:16:11
The private aerospace company SpaceX has postponed the takeoff of its powerful launch system and ship until this Saturday Starshipthe largest in the world, after suspending the first flight test scheduled for this Friday in Texas (USA) to “replace a grille fin actuator.”
SpaceX announced last night on X (formerly Twitter) and its website that it plans to launch from 7:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, with a two-hour window.
We need to replace a grid fin actuator, so launch is postponed to Saturday
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 16, 2023
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAAin English) of the United States had this week authorized the launch of the super rocket on Friday, considering that SpaceX complied with all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements.
The Starship will take off this Saturday, if all goes well, from the SpaceX facilities in the town of Boca Chica, in the extreme south of Texas (USA), and will do so powered by the first stage of the rocket, the Super Heavy launcher of 33 Raptor engines. The Starship itself and its Super Heavy booster – the most powerful in history – are fully integrated.
The Starship, along with the Super Heavy rocket booster – the most powerful in history – measures 121 meters high, more than 35 stories high.
The ship, which together with the booster rocket measures 121 meters high (equivalent to more than 35 stories), is expected to reach its orbit and make an almost complete revolution around the planet to complete its journey in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii. .
The firm has made some improvements, among them one related to the separation process and by which the second stage, the Starship itself, will turn on its engines during the same separation process, and not after, in order to achieve more power.
Scheme of the Starship test flight. /SpaceX
Changes have also been made to the Starbase launch pad, in Texas, to mitigate the effects of the first stage engines, and which constitutes one of the aspects analyzed by the FAA after the first test carried out on April 20. On that occasion, the SpaceX company successfully launched its ship and rocket, the largest and most powerful ever built, but it exploded before completing the planned trajectory.
NASA awaits the results
The US space agency is closely awaiting the results of this new test flightgiven that the Starship system will be responsible for carrying the astronauts of the manned mission Artemis III to the lunar surface, a trip initially planned for the year 2025.
Starship will be responsible for taking the astronauts of the Artemis III manned mission to the lunar surface starting in 2025
The Artemis program, with which NASA will return to the Earth satellite after more than 50 years, has the Space Launch System (SLS) launch rocket and the Orion capsule, which have already been tested in the unmanned mission Artemis I, which between November and December 2022 orbited the Moon and then returned to Earth.
According to some specialized media, the US space agency, which is located in a race with China which has the Moon as its goal, has disbursed some 4,000 million dollars (3.6 billion euros) in the development of the Starship.
According to SpaceX, their goal is to “build a fully reusable transportation system capable of transporting both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, helping humanity return to Earth.” Luna and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond“.
File photograph showing the takeoff of the rocket with Starship. / EFE/Abrahan Pineda-Jacome
Rights: Creative Commons.
#Starship #super #rocket #launch #imminent