space x
SpaceX moved its most flyable Starship rocket, Ship 24, to a launch site in South Texas on Saturday. A launch this week isn’t imminent, but sources say it could take place as early as April 10.
Earlier this week, the company lifted the launch system’s gigantic “super heavy” first stage onto the launch pad. The next step is to lift the Starship’s upper stage and place it on top of the first stage. These vehicles have been stacked for testing before, but this is the last time they are placed on the launch pad before taking off.
In recent weeks, engineers have added shields to protect the launch mounts and towers from the extreme heat of the launch of the 33-Raptor-powered Super Heavy. This rocket has about twice the thrust of her two most powerful rockets, NASA’s Saturn V and Space Launch System rockets.
With this work nearly complete, the focus now shifts to the final major hurdle between SpaceX’s giant rocket and its launch attempt: a license from the Federal Aviation Administration. Such regulatory issues are uncertain, but sources said they are on track to issue such licenses during the first two weeks of April.
NASA also appears to have tentatively reserved the use of its high-altitude WB-57 aircraft for observations of Starship’s test flights on April 10 and 11. As part of the Artemis Moon mission, the Starship Vehicle is used as a lunar lander for astronauts.
Long time no see
SpaceX previously completed hot-fire testing of the Super Heavy’s first stage in early February. At the time, 31 of his 33 engines on the rocket ignited and burned as intended. SpaceX has determined that its engineers have obtained enough data from the tests to proceed with the launch attempt. The boosters and upper stage were then removed to facilitate work on the launch pad.
After launch, the Super Heavy rocket will fly east over the Gulf of Mexico from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site. The booster does not attempt to land in this test. After stage separation, Starship’s upper vehicle is intended to reach orbital velocity over the Pacific Ocean before attempting to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. If all goes well, it will make a controlled descent and land in the ocean just north of the Hawaiian Islands.
After conducting a rapid test campaign to launch Starship prototypes in 2020 and 2021, the company has moved more cautiously at its development and test facility in South Texas. That’s because the company probably invested over $1 billion in massive launch and capture towers to support Starships and Super Heavy, and ground systems to support fueling the giant vehicles.
With so many assets clustered in a small area near the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX does not want to risk destroying the infrastructure it has spent over a year building and testing. This will delay the Starship launch campaign by at least a few months as the region is rebuilt. It will also likely double down on regulatory concerns raised as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s process of clearing locations in South Texas for experimental orbital launches.
