After a static fire of the Super Heavy booster's engines last week, SpaceX shipped the rocket back to the launch site for more preflight testing. The firm's latest rocket test saw several of the booster's engines shut down, indicating that problems persist on the rocket that is slated to make its second orbital test flight attempt soon. The booster, which measures 226 feet tall without the second stage Starship stacked on top, is the heart of the Starship rocket system. Even without the Starship's second stage, it is one of the largest rockets in the world and only the second rocket in human history to use dozens of engines to generate millions of pounds of thrust.
SpaceX Speeds Up Starship Testing As Pressure Mounts From Multiple Fronts
Starship is crucial to SpaceX's future since the firm needs to earn more revenue and because NASA has contracted the rocket to land the first astronauts on the Moon since the Apollo program. NASA's Artemis program, which kicked off last year, plans to land the first astronauts under the Artemis 3 mission, and SpaceX's second-stage Starship spacecraft is the lander of choice for this mission. The mission profile for the lunar landing will see the astronauts leave Earth on NASA's Orion capsule and enter Starship either through docking with NASA's Gateway space station or with SpaceX's spaceship directly.
A recent NASA press conference for the Artemis 2 mission, planned to take off in November, shed light on the space agency's partnership with SpaceX. At the event, the space agency's associate administrator for the exploration systems development directorate, Mr. Jim Free, stressed that SpaceX has to launch Starship multiple times before the rocket will be ready for the crewed missions.
Mr. Free highlighted that NASA had visited SpaceX's Starship facilities in Texas, which has enabled it to gain better insights into the firm's timelines. His comments also hinted that NASA and SpaceX might shift the contracted December 2025 timeline for the Artemis 3 mission as well. However, as of now, the date still holds.
As if this wasn't enough, Starship is also crucial to SpaceX's plans to build its second-generation Starlink satellite internet constellation. These satellites are larger than their predecessors, and SpaceX's latest Starlink launches have seen the Falcon 9 launch a mere 21 satellites per mission. This significantly reduces SpaceX's ability to upgrade its internet service and build the satellite constellation right when its internet market competitors are picking up steam.
SpaceX conducted a Starship static fire at the start of this month to prepare it for its second orbital test flight attempt. Surprisingly, the event was live-streamed, and as the test ended, SpaceX's mission control team confirmed that four of the Raptor 2 engines on the rocket had shut down prematurely.
This was followed by a rare Raptor 2 long-duration test last week that saw the engine gimballed at 15 degrees. SpaceX's chief Elon Musk explained later that the test's purpose was to evaluate it for a rocket landing. While SpaceX has landed the second stage Starship as part of its earlier test campaign, it is yet to land the Super Heavy booster. Landing the booster is equally, if not more complex, due to its size and engines. The flight profile is the only differentiating factor between the ship and the booster's complexity.
SpaceX states that the Super Heavy booster has been transported to the pad for preflight testing, so the firm might conduct more fiery static fire tests for evaluating the rocket engines before a flight attempt.
Super Heavy Booster 9 transported back to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for additional preflight testing pic.twitter.com/C30Gh5i9Cb
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 23, 2023
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