SpaceX is preparing to launch its latest Starship prototype of tens of thousands of feet as early as this week.
The challenge is landing on the ground – that maneuver ended in an explosion both times when the company tried it before. This time, SpaceX founder Elon Musk estimate that the prototype has a 60 percent chance of a successful landing.
The prototype represents the upper stage of a two-part system: Finally, an approximately 23-story booster called Super Heavy would lift the spacecraft into orbit. Musk’s long-term vision is for the system to fly astronauts to the moon one day and lead hypersonic journeys to Earth. He said he plans to build 1,000 astral ships to transport people and goods to Mars.
But first, SpaceX needs to know how to land the rocket, as this is essential to make the system reusable. Complete reuse could help Starship reduce the cost of reaching space 1,000 times.
The newest prototype is called Starship series no. 10 or SN10. It is not yet clear when SpaceX intends to try its test flight, but Musk SAPS on Sunday that there is a “high chance” of launch this week.
When this happens, the SN10 will roar tens of thousands of meters above the SpaceX facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. One by one, they should stop the engines as they approach the top of the flight, then turn sideways and fall back to Earth in a controlled belly flop. As it approaches the ground, the rocket should fire the engines again to overturn over time, to slow down and reach lightly on the landing pad.
Twice, SpaceX made such a flight, the prototypes hit the landing pads and exploded.
SPadre.com caught the second incident on a room in a building about 10 km away:
Prior to this upcoming launch, SpaceX must conduct a static fire to test the rocket engines, but the company appears to have all the government clearance it needs for the launch. This includes approval of the launch license, closure of local roads and closure of airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued airspace closure notices for the area from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Cameron County, Texas, also issued a notice to close Boca Chica Road from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT for Thursday. However, road and airspace closures can always be canceled and rescheduled until SpaceX is actually ready to launch.
We’ll update this post once SpaceX confirms the timing of its launch attempt.
SpaceX faces regulatory hurdles to bring Starship into orbit
SpaceX’s two previous test flights – those of the SN8 and SN9 prototypes – were considered successful despite their explosive end. This is because they have shown that Starship is able to shoot at suborbital heights and then control its fall.
However, both flights led to FAA investigations because the agency wanted to determine the cause of the explosions. It turned out that SN8 fell victim to low pressure in a fuel tank, which caused the spacecraft to fall too fast and hit the landing pad.
An additional problem with this attempt was that SpaceX had not obtained proper FAA approval, in violation of its launch license.
This triggered its own investigation, which then detained flight SN9. Once that prototype flew, one of the three Raptor engines failed to ignite as the rocket approached the ground.
All of these investigations have been closed, an FAA spokesman told a CNN reporter Jackie Wattles. And the launch license updates for flight SN10 are approved, according to the Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport.
Eventually, SpaceX will want to launch a spacecraft into orbit to test its ability to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. This will require a different type of FAA license, but obtaining one means removing many regulatory hurdles, including a thorough environmental assessment.
(The previously completed SpaceX Environmental Impact Statement for Boca Chica launches focused on the company’s smaller rockets, rather than its much larger Starship-Super Heavy system.)
The company is now waiting for the environmental assessment to begin, but depending on the findings, SpaceX may need a new impact statement, which could take up to three years.
Complicated Issues is a draft FAA-released document obtained by Insider that revealed that SpaceX intends to dig natural gas wells in Boca Chica to power ships and power plants. Such plans could also affect the process of reviewing the SpaceX environment.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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