The first flight attempt of the Starship rocket was canceled due to a frozen valve

2023-04-17 15:25:22

There is a lot of expectation around the launch of Starship, the rocket with which SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace company, wants to take humans first to the Moon, then to Mars, and then “beyond”. Finally, a frozen valve caused the cancellation of the first flight of the largest rocket ever built.

With just under 9 minutes left in the countdown, SpaceX announced a problem with the pressurization system on Starship’s first stage. However, the mission controllers decided to go ahead and change the test to a wet dress rehearsal (in which all the pre-lift steps are taken, but not done) and learn more about the rocket and its systems.

The company confirmed the news, advanced by Musk himself, and stated that the team is already preparing for the next attempt. At the moment, neither the date nor the time of the new attempt has been revealed, although it is known that it will take at least 48 hours for the rocket to be ready to fly.

Standing down from today’s flight test attempt; team is working towards next available opportunity

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2023

On Sunday night, Musk did not seem very confident that the test would be successful: “We must not expect success,” he confessed on Twitter. A week ago he was not particularly optimistic either, stating that at least the flight “won’t be boring.” From the same company they stated that “success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances in the development of Starship.” In fact, most of the previous prototypes have ended up in flames or exploding, as the company often pushes its ships to the limit, claiming that with each attempt, even if it doesn’t go as planned, they learn to understand this one more.’ beast’, which will have twice the power of the SLS mega-rocket with which the Artemis I mission was launched.

The objective of this test is to reach Earth orbit, complete almost the entire orbit of our planet, and then re-enter the atmosphere and fall into the Pacific at supersonic speed about 97 km from the northern Hawaiian Islands. After separating from the Starship, the Super Heavy booster is expected to execute the beginnings of a controlled return flight before plunging into the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship’s reentry over the Pacific will test its ability to steer using its large ailerons, as well as test its thermal protection designed to withstand the intense friction generated as it plummets through the atmosphere. “The ship will come like a meteor,” Musk described. “This is the first step of a long journey that will require many flights.”

First the Moon, then Mars, and then…

SpaceX’s idea with Starship is to develop a fully reusable vehicle that it will use first to take people to the Moon, then to Mars and its intention is to continue travel beyond the Red Planet. Starship’s Super Heavy first stage is powered by 33 of the new Raptor engines, while the upper stage spacecraft, known as Starship, has six of these boosters. The power of this rocket is twice that of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, used in the Artemis program and, for the moment, holds the record.

In fact, the idea is to use Starship to take the Artemis 3 astronauts to set foot on the Moon again, in addition to using it for at least three private space flights, two of them to transport passengers around our satellite.

Starship is also the largest rocket ever built, standing 120 meters tall (the SLS is 65) when fully assembled. But SpaceX’s intention is to expand it another ten meters in the future, according to what the magnate announced a few days ago.