On Sunday, SpaceX’s colossal Starship rocket successfully launched from its Texas platform, marking its fifth key test flight. This momentous journey featured the first-ever “catch” of the craft’s booster upon its return from the cosmos. The launch of the mightiest rocket ever built happened at 8:25am New York time.
The Super Heavy booster, having sent Starship into space, then voyaged back to its Earth launch pad. It decelerated during its landing approach, and was “caught” by two arms extending from Starship’s launch tower, prompting a wave of applause and cheers from the mission’s control room.
Jessie Anderson, an engineer from SpaceX who was visibly emotional during the live stream, said: “I’m trying to contain my tears, just like the chopsticks caught the booster.”
The successful recovery of Starship’s booster subsequent to its launch sets a significant landmark for SpaceX as it prepares the rocket for enterprise activities. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has envisioned this spacecraft as instrumental for accomplishing his dreams of manned voyages to the moon and Mars, although plenty of obstacles are still on the horizon before it can start transporting crew and cargo.
Musk frequently boasts about the spacecraft’s full reusability. Though SpaceX has a record of collecting its Falcon 9 rockets post-launch, these vehicles are only semi-reusable, with sections either discarded or unutilised after the close of each mission.
The chief goal for SpaceX with Starship is to entirely recover the vehicle’s two primary sections — the Starship vessel that will transport satellites and eventually passengers, and its Super Heavy booster.
SpaceX’s plan, by retrieving these parts following their flight, is to facilitate a fast service cycle for the hardware post-launch, allowing for multiple Starship flights within a single day. A complete reusability is also anticipated to substantially lower the cost of launching Starship.
Just as the Falcon 9 does, Starship’s Super Heavy booster also made its return to our planet, employing fins for navigational assistance through our atmosphere. Before it made contact with the ground, it ignited its engines to ensure a gradual descent. However, unlike Falcon 9 that lands on rigid surfaces with the support of a set of landing appendages, Super Heavy was suspended from reaching the ground.
This maneuver was first trialed by SpaceX with Super Heavy on the most recent Sunday’s flight. The company previously trialed to ‘settle’ Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico, in June during Starship’s fourth excursion, directing it towards a highly precise objective in the ocean.
Against the backdrop of Musk’s frank disapproval of the FAA’s slow pace in granting commercial space launch permits, the mission proceeded. This concern has been shared by SpaceX as it seeks to increase the frequency of Starship launches. In September, the FAA informed SpaceX that the permit for the current operation would not be granted until the end of November – a schedule SpaceX declared to be sluggish and ineffective.
Notwithstanding the booster capture, the Starship journey has shown close similarity to its flight in June. Both the Starship and the Super Heavy booster were launched synchronously. The journey is still underway, with Starship methodically circumnavigating a large part of Earth before descending through the atmosphere and landing in the Indian Ocean.
During its previous descent, Starship managed to survive a large part of the fall, but began to break apart before it could reach the ocean, eventually succumbing to a complete burn out. For this flight, SpaceX made extensive modifications to Starship’s heat shield to help endure the magnitude of heat it encounters during its fall through the atmosphere.
Each Starship trial flight is not viewed negatively by SpaceX in the event of loss of vehicles. The objective is to enhance and evolve with each one. Up until now, the company has met more targeted objectives with every fresh launch. (Bloomberg)