On June 6, Space In its fourth flight test, Elon Musk’s space company achieved the goal of developing the controlled return capability and eventual reuse of the largest space transportation system. The Starship spacecraft lifted off at 12:50 UTC from Space
The booster missile separated after 3 minutes of flight, at an altitude of 90 kilometers. Four minutes later, this rocket – named Super Heavy – made a burning landing and soft dive into the Gulf of Mexico, successfully achieving the first of the goals of this fourth flight.
At the same time, the spacecraft reached Earth’s orbit with its own engines to undertake an orbital flight at an altitude of 160 kilometers and at a speed of more than 26 thousand kilometers per hour in the direction of the Indian Ocean.
After 45 minutes of flight, the tilt maneuver to re-enter the atmosphere began.
Images from the aircraft’s on-board camera recorded separation from the fuselage and one of the steering panels, due to intense heat generated by friction, during 58 minutes of flight, at an altitude of 54 kilometres.
An hour and five minutes of flight
Finally, despite the weak image signal, it was possible to follow the rest of the descent and record a controlled landing of Starship in the Indian Ocean, Western Australia, after one hour and five minutes of flight. Thus, the second goal of the mission was achieved.
On the third flight, on March 14, the ship separated from the rocket and achieved orbital flight. However, it was lost over the Indian Ocean before the planned docking. It was not possible to recover the missile either. To achieve the new goals, several software and hardware upgrades have been made.
The SpaceX team will also implement operational changes, including eliminating the Super Heavy “hot stage” (the hot separation of the two parts of the rocket) after liftoff to reduce the mass of the rocket in the final stage of flight.
The fourth flight followed a similar path to the previous flight test, with the spacecraft aiming to dock in the Indian Ocean west of Australia. “This flight path does not require any deorbit burn for reentry while providing the opportunity to achieve the goal of controlled reentry,” according to Space
The moon, Mars and beyond
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively called Starship, represent a “fully reusable transportation system designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond,” according to the company’s own description.
Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons fully reusable and 250 metric tons disposable. It is 121 meters high (50 meters for the ship itself) and 9 in diameter.
The Super Heavy rocket is powered by 33 Raptor engines burning methane and reusable oxygen phases. The spacecraft has six other engines: three Raptor engines and three Raptor vacuum engines (RVac), which are designed for use in the vacuum of space.
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