SpaceX: Seventh test flight for giant Starship rocket on Thursday night
SpaceX plans to launch the giant Starship rocket again on Thursday night. It has been redesigned and will also launch satellite models this time.
(Image: SpaceX)
On Thursday night, SpaceX is planning the next test flight of the Starship, which has been extensively redesigned for this purpose. For the first time, the giant rocket will also deploy ten satellites in space; these are full-size models of the next-generation Starlink satellites. However, they will not enter an orbit, but will fall into the Indian Ocean together with the Starship. Once again, the booster of the giant rocket is to return to the launch pad after the launch and be captured there. This worked on the fifth test flight and failed on the sixth.
Extensive revisions
According to SpaceX, it has modified the Starship's fuel system so that the rocket can now carry more fuel. Further changes are intended to improve the reliability and performance of the rocket. SpaceX has also extensively revised the electronics on board. Thanks to the connections to the Starlink satellites, the rocket should also be able to transmit live video at 120 Mbit/s during every phase of the flight. SpaceX also points out that the booster is equipped with engines that were already in use during the fifth test flight.
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SpaceX has a one-hour launch window available for the launch, which opens at 11 p.m. Central European Time (4 p.m. local time). A livestream will begin around 35 minutes beforehand, which can be viewed on the SpaceX website and on the short message service X. Elon Musk's space company points out that this is a test, which is why the schedule could change at any time. This could once again cause problems for the Australian airline Qantas, whose planes fly on the so-called “Wallaby route” to South Africa over the region of the Indian Ocean into which the Starship is supposed to crash. The rocket launches have already caused several delays there.
The Starship consists of the approximately 70-meter-long “Super Heavy” booster and a 50-meter-long upper stage. The largest rocket in the world is designed in such a way that the spaceship and rocket can be reused after returning to Earth. The rocket is intended to take astronauts to the moon for NASA. However, SpaceX promises flights to Mars. In April 2023, a complete Starship took off for the first time, but remained intact for only minutes. Six months later, the second launch attempt was successful before the rocket exploded again. Four more followed in 2024, three of which were successful. Although SpaceX did not achieve the promised nine launch attempts, the speed of work on the rocket remains impressive.
(mho)
