SpaceX demonstrated a few weeks ago that its Starship was not only capable of flight, but also reusable by trapping it with its Mechazilla recovery system. However, there is still a long way to go before the rocket is truly ready for its first space missions. Recently, the date of the next opportunity that Elon Musk’s company will have to test its capabilities has been announced.
The sixth test flight of the Starship megarocket will take place next Monday, November 18, as reported by the company itself. It must be clarified that the launch will only take place if weather conditions allow it and no problems are detected in the SpaceX space vehicle. However, many space fans are looking forward to this new attempt, especially after the success of the fifth flight in mid-October.
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Starship’s fifth flight test was a seminal moment in iterating towards a fully and rapidly reusable launch system.
Next up: the sixth flight test of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Monday, November 18 → https://t.co/oIFc3u9laE https://t.co/5496ApNHkA
November 6, 2024 • 19:33
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SpaceX defined the Mechazilla capture milestone as a “defining moment in the drive toward a fully reusable and rapid launch system.” This is a great triumph for the aerospace brand, since the future of space missions must be reusable to be economically feasible.
Only one month between the fifth and sixth flight
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is the regulatory body that accepts or denies space flights in the United States, has been quick to approve the new Starship launch. SpaceX had typically gotten clearance to fly within several months of each other. But, on this occasion, they have been luckier and have been granted it with a single month of temporal distance. This is no doubt due to the successes of the October release.
SpaceX explains that on the sixth flight they will try to recreate the successes of the fifth, including the capture of the booster and the controlled landing of Starship. Likewise, they emphasize that they will continue testing the heat shield and the maneuvers for the re-entry of the upper stage. Thus, they intend to “expand the capacity of the ship and the propellant and get closer to the reuse of the entire system online.”
Likewise, it is important that they can start one of the six Raptor engines of the ship in orbit. In this way, they will be one step closer to being able to also reuse the Starship upper stage. This part of the spacecraft will also test new secondary thermal protection materials and “intentionally fly at a higher angle in the final phase of descent.” Thus, they seek to “stress” the limits of flap control and “obtain data on future landing profiles.”
With their goals in mind, SpaceX engineers have introduced a series of upgrades to the rocket. These include greater redundancy in the propulsion system and updated software controls. The launch on November 18 will allow us to see how these changes and others work.
The results that the SpaceX team obtains with the next launch will be able to continue working to provide “significant improvements” on the seventh flight. With them, they will be able to redesign the flaps, create larger propulsion tanks and develop more up-to-date thermal protection. Therefore, they still have a lot of work ahead of them to get Starship ready to operate on space missions.
It must be remembered that the Starship megarocket is an essential element in NASA’s Artemis program. With the space vehicle, the US space agency hopes to return a manned mission to the Moon and carry out long lunar settlements to investigate the Earth’s only natural satellite. As SpaceX achieves more and more achievements in its test flights, the idea of humans stepping on the Moon again is becoming more and more real.
