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SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has shared his expectations for the upcoming test flight of the Starship rocket in Texas. SpaceX will soon be conducting Starship Flight 5, which Musk said could take place late next month or early September, depending on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval. For Flight 5, SpaceX is trying to catch the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy booster with the launch tower’s catch arms, which is a pretty big hurdle. These arms are responsible for stacking the second stage of Starship onto the booster during pre-launch preparations, and Musk believes there is a 50% chance that the tower catch will be successful.
SpaceX plans to launch Starship 5 in late August or early September, Musk says
Musk gave an update on Starship Flight 5 during a video conference call today. He first said that the test flight was “2–3 weeks“Depending on FAA licensing,”The end of August“It could be as soon as possible, possibly as early as early September. As for whether he considers the test a success, Musk said SpaceX “I want to catch the mecha. Booster in Mechazilla’s arms“this is”A little crazy“It’s because of the size of the booster,” he added, but he said it was “There were plenty of opportunities to work“It may take a few tries before you get it to work.”
Another SpaceX objective is to test the heat shield of the second stage of Starship. During the fourth test flight, the spacecraft was the first to make a soft landing on water, despite a flap burning. As part of the fix before the fifth flight, SpaceX has upgraded all of its spaceship tilesLanding accuracy is another goal. Flight 4 aircraft missed its target due to flap damage..
Ensuring that the heat shield works and protects the spacecraft is important not just for testing but for safety. Musk said that on the fourth flight, SpaceX “lost a lot of heat shield tiles,” which made landing very difficult because there was a risk that the spacecraft would break apart during re-entry or land in the wrong place. If either of these things happened, “Debris can collide and cause damage to property and people.” he warned.
Due to these complexities, SpaceX hasAt least 3 successful landings“Before attempting to return the ship to the launch site. The heat shield of the Flight 5 ship wasIt’s a huge upgrade, I’d say at least twice as good, and in some cases infinitely better.” The executive also said, “The secondary heat shield is located behind the primary heat shield.“For Starship Flight 5, SpaceX is taking every measure to ensure that the spacecraft survives atmospheric re-entry fully intact,” Musk revealed.
With the new heat shield and advances in the Super Heavy booster, Flight 4 is the first to achieve a soft landingMusk said:There’s probably about a 50% chance of catching a booster.In the case of a ship, the chances that its heat shields would remain intact are “Maybe, just maybe, there’s more than a 50% chance, maybe 60%, 70% chance that the ship’s heat shields will remain intact on this next flight, assuming nothing else goes wrong.“
As part of its preparations, SpaceX conducted a static burn of the Starship upper stage for Flight 5 earlier this week. This was the first static burn of a spacecraft conducted in a new flame trench near the launch pad. The spacecraft has now been returned to the assembly facility, where future tests may include a full-stack wet dress rehearsal.
Flight 5: Slow-motion footage of Starship’s six Raptor engines static firing pic.twitter.com/5395Vmq2j4
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 27, 2024
