What was the second suborbital flight like?
The final countdown before the start was stopped at -40 seconds but restarted soon after.
A successful stage separation occurred at the end of the third minute of flight time, but the lower stage exploded a few seconds later.
The upper stage continued its flight and entered space, reaching an altitude of 148 km and a speed of 24,121 km/h. After that, communication with him was lost, and shortly after, SpaceX announced that it had activated the flight abort system. This means that the missile will almost certainly not reach its target in the Pacific Ocean. Still, the flight can be considered partially successful, as the SpaceX team managed to separate the stages and launch the device into space.
Why is Starship so important to the space industry?
If the rocket’s development is successful as planned, it will have two game-changing advantages over its competitors.
First, Starship will be the first rocket to reuse both stages with a vehicle integrated into the upper stage. Taking into account the declared carrying capacity of one hundred tons or more, this will potentially significantly reduce the price per kilogram of cargo delivered into space and allow more frequent launches only after technical inspection and refilling of stages. The availability of a super-heavy, relatively inexpensive rocket will make sense to create very large satellites (or space stations), opening a huge window of opportunity for innovation in the space sector.
Secondly, the Starship project assumes the possibility of refueling in low Earth orbit using tankers (this will be discussed below). Once refueled, the upper stage housing the integrated spacecraft will use the resulting fuel to fly to the Moon or other planets. If this idea comes true, the rocket will be able to carry tens of tons of payload into deep space: both probes will deliver large amounts of fuel and cargo that will help explore Mars and the Moon. For comparison, the Juno probe used to study Jupiter has a mass of 3.6 tons, while the Perseverance rover with its transfer module weighs almost 4 tons.
Starship should become a complete rocket family
According to Elon Musk’s plan, the upper tier will have three main modifications, while the lower tier will be single. Changes in the upper stage will differ depending on the type of integrated ship: a cargo-passenger ship, an unmanned cargo ship for launching satellites into orbit, and a refueling tanker. In all cases, the ship is located at the top of the rocket, above the main fuel tanks.
Cargo-passenger modification can be considered basic. It will be used for flights to other planets and cargo deliveries. It is assumed that when landing on an unequipped place (without a launch tower), it will be possible to exit the cabin using an external elevator, which can also accommodate large cargo. For flights between the lunar surface and lunar orbit, sub-modifications without aerodynamic control surfaces and thermal protection will be used. This is the exact same device that NASA has chosen to land humans on the Moon in 2026 as part of its Arthemis program.
The cargo version will be similar to a conventional rocket – the only difference is that the fairing for separating the satellites will not be dropped, but will be deployed. A pavement with a base diameter of nine meters will allow placement of large loads; By comparison, the James Webb telescope’s mirror had to be folded to fit under the 4.5-meter fairing of the Ariane 5 rocket.
The tanker version will have no analogues in astronautics, its concept is borrowed from combat aviation. It is assumed that a cargo-passenger (or cargo) rocket heading into deep space will first enter a stable low-Earth orbit. After that, a refueling tanker will be launched from the ground – it will probably have no payload bay and its fuel tanks will be enlarged. It will enter the same orbit as the first rocket, dock with it and begin pumping fuel. Leaving on board the necessary reserves for landing, the tanker will leave the port and return to the ground. It can be refueled there and sent back into space – etc. until the main rocket’s tanks are full. After that, the cargo-passenger Starship will continue its flight towards the Moon, Mars or other planets.
For this plan to be justified, it would need to learn to refuel and stage much more quickly than SpaceX currently does with the Falcon 9. Relaunch speed record of the first stage to date corresponds to: 21 days.
How is Starship similar to the Space Shuttle?
The concept of both systems is subject to the same goal – to significantly reduce the cost of launching into space through the reuse of rockets. The shuttle was unable to complete this mission due to the extremely time-consuming and expensive maintenance required between each flight. This was largely due to the use of hydrogen as fuel; The gas itself is cheap, but requires complex and expensive infrastructure due to its ability to pass through small gaps in the material and liquefaction temperatures of only 20 degrees above absolute zero. Among other things, there was a risk of hydrogen leaking through the seals inside the RS-25 engine; this, combined with oxidizing oxygen, could have led to an accident. That’s why engineers carefully overhauled the RS-25 by hand before each launch.
Starship’s fuel is much less liquid methane, and is also convenient to keep next to oxygen in the tank due to its similar boiling point. The Raptor engine developed by SpaceX is smaller, cheaper and, according to Musk, much more reliable than the RS-25. At the same time, Starship does not have the shuttle’s powerful solid fuel thrusters and will therefore operate on a lower stage during launch. 33 Raptor engines. This is a record for astronautics, and the use of 30 small engines was considered the main reason for the failure in the development of the Soviet superheavy moon rocket N-1. Musk believes his engineers will overcome these challenges, and the large number of engines makes the system more fault-tolerant.
Unlike the Shuttle, Starship does not have wings: It lands on its tail using engines, and aerodynamic rudders are needed only for flight control. This requires leaving some fuel in the tanks that will be useful for acceleration. But the presence of wings on stage (or on the ship) creates even more problems. First, they have their own weight, which can be compared with the mass of the remaining fuel required. The latter requires the spacecraft to be adapted to withstand the forces exerted by both the engines and the wings (roughly speaking, the aircraft needs to be strong where the wings are installed). The same goes for retractable landing gear.
But what the space shuttle and Starship have in common is the use of ceramic thermal protection that resembles black tiles. Due to its very low thermal conductivity, it enables the ship to withstand the heat generated during hypersonic descent into the atmosphere. Although Starship is not capable of full aerodynamic flight, it enters the atmosphere from the sides and uses this to slow down to save fuel. Turning with the engines below occurs only at a low altitude before descent.
When will the rocket be ready? And how realistic are these plans in general?
Space industry experts have different opinions on this issue. Starship in its current version is known to be a greatly reduced derivative of Musk’s previous similar concepts (ITS and BFR). Thus, the planned ITS payload could be up to 500 tons, and instead of thermal protection tiles in the BFR, liquid methane had to be injected under the “belly” at re-entry. Each subsequent revision of the project is characterized, firstly, by a significant reduction in ambitions, and secondly, by a change in deadlines for many years. Notably, in 2020, Musk insisted that the rocket would be ready to fly to Mars in 2022 – resulting in the first suborbital test flight in spring 2023, ending in an explosion a few minutes later.
SpaceX is a private company, and Starship is unlikely to cost a fortune to develop due to its proprietary cost-cutting approach. In other cases, Musk can design his favorite rocket as many times as he wants. However, everything changes with a contract signed with NASA in 2020, which includes the use of Starship to deliver people to the Moon during the Artemis 3 flight. Moreover, in 2021, SpaceX continued to be the sole contractor of this mission, and NASA rejected the application of its closest rival, Blue Origin, through the courts.
Artemis 3 launch date since then affected from 2024 to 2025 and even 2026 due to the unavailability of many components, but the state program cannot be extended for an arbitrary period. Starship almost certainly It won’t be ready until 2025However, if it does not receive a certificate suitable for human flight within a few years, the Arthemis project, NASA management and SpaceX may experience serious problems. Development is also hampered by constant complaints from environmentalists – in their opinion, a missile testing site located in Texas near the village of Boca Chica. to damage local yellow-legged plovers and other residents.
It is very likely that the version of the Starship required for a flight to the Moon will be completed urgently with reduced capabilities, and the remaining modifications will be ready only years later.