Sunday was a day of celebration at SpaceX’s Starbase in Southeast Texas. First, the launch tower’s arms successfully caught the Super Heavy booster. An hour later, the Starship spacecraft splashed down for the first time at its intended spot, where a buoy was waiting to record it.
Some context. In addition to being the world’s tallest and most powerful rocket, Starship is the world’s first rapidly reusable launcher. On Sunday, for the first time, SpaceX succeeded in recovering the Super Heavy stage (the 233-foot-high booster) and bringing it back to Earth so that the launch tower could catch it in flight with its robotic arms.
Recovering the Starship stage (the 165-foot spacecraft where satellites and astronauts will travel in the future) is even more difficult due to the challenge of atmospheric re-entry. This refers to when the spacecraft returns to Earth at more than 16,000 mph and is subjected to the extreme heat of friction against the air.
New heat shield. In June, SpaceX completed the first splashdown with Starship, but the heat shield didn’t hold up well during re-entry. The plasma flow caused visible damage to the rocket. However, thanks to the strength of the stainless steel, Starship remained operational and was able to fire its engines to go vertical and simulate a landing.
On the fourth flight, Starship’s upper stage (Ship 29) splashed down about 4 miles short of its intended landing zone. For Flight 5, SpaceX replaced Ship 30’s 18,000 heat tiles with an improved shield featuring a new layer of ablative material under the tiles to protect the spacecraft from extreme heat. This change was made in hopes of reducing damage and landing in the intended zone.
Target splashdown and explosion. The new heat shield did its job despite the plasma flow causing visible damage to the spacecraft during re-entry. One hour and five minutes after launch, Ship 30 successfully simulated a landing at the precise spot in the Indian Ocean where SpaceX intended to splash down.
A buoy equipped with a camera was just a few feet from where the spacecraft fired its engines to go vertical for “landing.” Before the ship sank, the flight termination system was activated, and the buoy’s camera captured a large explosion. The spaceship’s wreckage sank into the ocean after a successful mission.
All objectives achieved. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company successfully achieved both objectives during the recent Starship test flight. The first objective was the splashdown of Starship at the planned location, and the second was to catch the Super Heavy booster with the arms of the Mechazilla tower.
SpaceX, known for its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket, now aims to achieve the same reusability with Starship. Although the Super Heavy booster may not be airworthy again, the company is determined to reach this goal. While Starship isn’t reusable yet, SpaceX’s progress suggests it’ll become so eventually.
Image | SpaceX
View 0 comments