Update a 00:02 am 17. Januar:SpaceX was able to capture a Super Heavy Booster on the launch tower for the second time. However, the first flight of the new Block 2 Starship, which was supposed to test many innovations, failed. The upper stage was lost for unknown reasons a few minutes after the so-called hot staging (separation from the booster) (viaSpaceX).
At 11:37 p.m. Thursday night German time, 33 Raptor engines fire. The seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship begins, gigantic clouds of water vapor roll like a roller over the coast of Boca Chica in Texas.
A Starship from Block 2 is being used for the first time, which has a number of innovations compared to its predecessor (viaSpaceX). A few minutes later, the launch tower successfully captures the 71 meter high booster (approximately 23 stories) during a centimeter landing.
Starship vs. Super Heavy Booster:The naming of the Starship can be confusing. Because actually only the upper level is called Starship. The first stage is called Super Heavy Booster. But SpaceX only speaks of Starship when it comes to the entire structure, i.e. Starship plus booster (viaSpaceX).
We'll also stick with Starship for simplicity's sake unless the booster is the focus.
The Starship will also play a central role as a landing vehicle during the Artemis moon mission. Maybe this will get even bigger,.
The mission and the secret star
You can find detailed information about how the seventh test flight should have taken place..
The secret and probably smallest star of this test mission was an area of the heat protection tiles on the new Block 2 Starship. Among other things, SpaceX wanted to test an actively cooled segment made of metal instead of glass ceramic.
To do this, liquid penetrates to the outside through tiny openings and reduces stress on the outer skin through evaporation. In the long term, heat protection turns out to be one of the core challenges. In the best case scenario, the resilient layer should survive multiple re-entries – or at least require only minor repairs after each flight.
The second successful capture of the booster is already a big step towards series production. Certainly to the delight of Elon Musk, because he only recently.
More about SpaceX and Mars
Even though the Block 2 Starship was unable to complete its tasks in space and re-enter its maiden flight, SpaceX was optimistic at the end of the stream - as always - that it would quickly learn from the failure. The changes compared to the original variant, which has already been flown successfully from takeoff to landing several times, are extensive.
Even if Blue Origin with New Glenn took off for the first time in Germany on the morning of January 16th, SpaceX remains the leading company on the global tableau of rocket operators. This is especially true with regard to heavy loads beyond 50 tons in low Earth orbit (LEO). In the long term, Blue Origin's new orbital rocket only represents competition for the Falcons that are established on the market, not for the Starship.
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