SpaceX is getting ready to launch its fifth high-flying Starship from its rocket facilities in Texas this week.
Unlike its predecessors, this mega-spaceship is a relative of NASA’s next lunar lander – the vehicle that will place boots on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
11, or SN15, is the latest in a series of Starship prototypes launching SpaceX up to six kilometers above Boca Chica, Texas.
When SN15 approaches the peak of its flight, it must switch off its three Raptor engines one by one. Then SN15 must tilt sideways and fall back to the ground, using four wing flaps to control its fall.
As it approaches the ground, SN15 must re-ignite its engines to turn itself upright again and gently lower itself to the landing strip. However, this is where his predecessors failed.
The first two prototypes that rose to high altitude, SN8 and SN9, descended at high speed into the runway and immediately exploded. The third, SN10, ended up in one piece but inflated 10 minutes later. The fourth, SN11, exploded in the air as he re-ignited his engines for landing.
From left to right: the explosions SN8, SN9 and SN10.
Gene Blevins / Reuters; SPadre.com
For SpaceX, explosions during the development of rockets are equal to the course.
“They use a different development philosophy than the government, namely: Fly. If something goes wrong, they try to fix it. Fly again. If something else goes wrong, they try to fix it,” said John Logsdon, founder of George. Washington University’s Space Policy Institute and a former member of the NASA Advisory Council, told Insider after the fourth Starship explosion. “People have complimented SpaceX on how fast they’re moving.”
But, he added, “the fact that they had these early problems with the development program means that there will have to be a record of success before anyone other than an extreme risk taker is willing to get on board.”
Nailing the landing is even more important now that NASA Starship has chosen to land its next astronauts on the moon.
The agency announced Friday that it is working with SpaceX to transform Starship into the lunar lander that will launch its Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. NASA hopes to land its first Starship crew there in 2024, but a new report from the Inspector General’s NASA office found that the agency would be ‘highly unlikely’ to meet this deadline.
Illustration of SpaceX Starship human lander design that will transport NASA astronauts to the lunar surface during the Artemis mission.
SpaceX
At the end of SpaceX, a big step in the direction of the moon will fly and Starships land here on earth without blowing it up.
However, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has ambitions beyond the lunar surface. Eventually, he said, he plans to build 1,000 spaceships that transport humans and cargo to Mars and establish a settlement there.
Musk said Thursday on Twitter that the company intends to launch SN15 sometime this week. Government returns indicate that Tuesday and Wednesday may offer flying opportunities.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued air closure notices for the area from 07:00 to 20:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Cameron County judge also issued local closures on Tuesday and Wednesday – another requirement for the launch – from noon to 8 p.m.
How to watch Starship’s flight live
As of Monday afternoon, SN15 was upright on the Boca Chica launch pad. During the test flight, SpaceX will likely stream live from that site and from cameras in the rocket’s rack, where the engines are located.
The up-close cameras have provided beautiful footage from recent Starship flights, such as the footage from SN9 below. (We’ll put SpaceX’s live stream below as soon as it’s available.)
Meanwhile, some rocket enthusiasts and fans of the company are broadcasting live from Boca Chica.
NASAS spaceflight broadcasters are likely to deliver a critical ‘static fire’ test that SpaceX must perform before launching, to anchor SN15 to the launch pad and ignite its engines. It is unclear when this will happen, but the earliest event is Tuesday.
LabPadre, a YouTube channel of Louis Balderas, a Texas resident living just across from Boca Chica Bay, offers six unique views of the Starship launch site. Below is the main stream of the channel in 4K resolution.
Watch SPadre’s 24-hour live import for a wider view of the launch site – broadcast from the top of a hotel resort on South Padre Island, about 9km away.