The Starship rocket in December 2024 being prepared for its seventh flight
Spacex
The next SpaceX test flight will be the most ambitious to date, and the first involving a new “Block 2” version with a multitude of design updates.
What is Starship?
Starship is the most powerful rocket to fly. SpaceX aims to develop it in a quickly reusable vehicle which can take large useful loads in orbit, land on earth and launch another mission in a few hours.
In a somewhat confused way, Starship is the name given both to the whole spacecraft, made up of a super heavy booster and the ship he launches stacked, and of the ship alone once he detached from the booster.
Spacex Quickly has both super heavy and starship, adopting an approach to the Silicon Valley of the design which considers regular tests and dramatic failures within the framework of the process. But it will be the first test of the Block 2 Starship Star Stage.
What's new in Starship Block 2?
The company says On his website The electronics of this starship underwent a “complete overhaul” and there are now more than 30 cameras on board. It will also have 25% more propellants, 3.1 meters more and will have displaced front shutters.
It also includes, for the first time, a first version of the pins needed to be captured by a tower on the ground and reused. However, SpaceX currently has only one tower, which will be used to catch the booster, so there will be no attempt to catch starship for reuse this time. A second tower is under construction.
What will the test flight imply?
SpaceX hopes that the upper stadium will reach space, will complete a partial orbit of the earth, will enter the atmosphere in complete safety and make a controlled splash in the Indian Ocean. The first super heavy step must return to the launch site and be captured by the Mechazilla or “wand” arms of the launch tower – which will be the Second taking in case of success.
The launch marks an important step for SpaceX Car Starship Equipment will be reused for the first time. One of the 33 Super Heavy Raptor engines was previously used in starship Fifth test flight. It was the only test to this day when the booster was returned safely, it is therefore the first opportunity that the company had to reuse anything.
Another first will be the deployment by starship of 10 false Peak link satellites. These simulated satellites will be of size and weight similar to the next third generation of equipment on the company's internet, and will test the capacity of starship to transport useful loads to orbit and to launch them safely. No flight from previous stars has a payload, unless you count the Toy Banana wore flight 6.
Many other small tests will be carried out during the seventh flight to provide precious data to engineers. One of the Raptor of Starship engines will be stunned in space, for example, and several heat -resistant tiles have been deleted as a test. Several types of new heat tiles, one with active cooling, are also tested.
When will the launch take place?
SpaceX says That the launch will occur on January 13, and it is expected that it will occur on this date, with a launch window granted to the company from 4 p.m., time of the central standard (United Kingdom time).
The launch window takes place until January 16, giving the company a certain latitude if the launch was postponed, either due to engineering problems, or in unfavorable weather. The controversial owner of the company, Elon Musk, had previously declared that the launch would occur on January 10, so he seems to have already had a delay.
As with all other Starship launches, flight 7 will take off from SpaceX site to Boca Chica, Texas, and will also be live online.
What happened in previous Starship launches?
Flight 1 test On April 20, 2023, three of the 33 engines in the booster stage could not ignite. The rocket then extends out of control and is self -destructing.
The second test flight of November 18, 2023 went further, winning enough altitude for the booster and the upper stages to separate as planned. The recall stadium finally exploded before reaching the ground level and the upper stadium is self -destructing, but not before reaching space.
Test flight 3 March 14, 2024 was at least a partial success, because the upper stadium reached space once again, but it failed to return to the level of the soil intact.
THE next flightOn June 6, saw the upper step reaching an altitude of more than 200 kilometers and traveling more than 27,000 kilometers per hour. The booster and the upper floor finished the soft splashes in the ocean.
Test Flight 5 saw the super heavy booster grow back on the launch pad and land safely on the launch tower of SpaceX, called Mechazilla, lulled by a pair of “baguettes”.
Test flight 6 Saw Starship managed to reach an altitude of 228 kilometers, before splashing in the Indian Ocean. Super Heavy abandoned his attempt to land at the launch tower due to a communication flaw and rather made a controlled splash in the Gulf of Mexico.
