SpaceX Leaves Rivals Speechless With the First Successful Landing of the Starship With ‘Half a Centimeter Accuracy’

SpaceX is preparing to launch the Starship rocket for the fifth time on Sunday. The company aims to catch the large rocket using the mechanical arms of the launch tower, also known as Mechazilla, which is a risky maneuver. However, SpaceX is optimistic about the attempt.

Some context. Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing at almost 400 feet tall. It’s made up of two stages: the Super Heavy booster, which is 233 feet tall and has 33 Raptor 2 engines, and the Starship spacecraft, which is 165 feet tall and has six engines.

While the Starship system hasn’t yet reached its full potential, it’s designed to carry more than 100 tons into low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon and Mars. Because it’s fully reusable, Starship is expected to reduce launch costs and increase the frequency of its spaceflight.

Super Heavy’s “triple somersault.” During Starship’s fourth flight, the Super Heavy booster successfully separated from the Starship stage, performed a spin maneuver, reignited its engines, and simulated a landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX announced that it would attempt to catch the Super Heavy on the fifth flight with the launch tower’s mechanical arms. The rocket will report its health status and, if approved by the flight director, will return in a controlled manner to the SpaceX facility in southeast Texas. It’ll position itself next to the 469-foot-high tower so that the tower can close its arms and catch it in flight.

“Half a centimeter accuracy.” Starship’s fourth flight was incredibly accurate. As a result, SpaceX hasn’t needed more than one successful attempt to risk the tower with the dangerous maneuver to catch the rocket.

On Wednesday, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president for build and flight reliability, revealed that flight four’s Super Heavy booster landed at a particular point in the Gulf of Mexico “with half a centimeter accuracy,” about 1/5 of an inch. That’s an impressive figure for a 233-foot rocket. Naturally, it gives SpaceX confidence to move on to the real thing without doing any more simulations.

Why Super Heavy doesn’t land on the ground. Unlike the Falcon 9, the Super Heavy rocket doesn’t have retractable legs for landing. This is because it’s a large and heavy rocket that would require huge legs, which would either reduce the Starship probe’s payload capacity or require more fuel capacity.

Instead of landing with legs, the tower arms will catch the Super Heavy rocket. This method allows the rocket to be placed immediately on the launch pad, filled with fuel, and have another Starship placed on top of it for takeoff. This quick reuse process is similar to that of an airplane, which is a goal that SpaceX is aiming for.

The landing could be aborted if necessary. After the Super Heavy booster separates from the Starship spacecraft, Starship will continue on its way to another simulated landing in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX will then decide whether to proceed with or cancel the booster capture maneuver.

This decision will be based on various criteria, such as the perfect functioning of all systems, including those at the launch site. If any system isn’t in optimal condition, the rocket will splash down again in the Atlantic instead of returning to the launch site.

Almost everything is ready for liftoff. SpaceX’s engineers have already installed the flight termination system explosives. The company is just waiting for the flight license, which was originally scheduled for the end of November but will now be expedited.

Assuming there are no delays and the FAA flight license arrives on time, Starship’s flight five will take off at 7:00 a.m. local time in Starbase, Texas, on Sunday. SpaceX anticipates that both the Super Heavy and the Starship stage will survive re-entry, thanks to a more advanced and durable heat shield compared to the previous flight.

Image | SpaceX

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