Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship rocket on a critical test flight, aiming to rectify the issues that led to the failure of its two previous attempts. Both rockets exploded in flight, raining debris into the ocean after producing an impression spectacle in the sky.
Ars Technica reports that in a bid to get its Starship program back on track, SpaceX is gearing up for a vital test flight that could take place as early as May 21. The private space company, founded by Elon Musk, has been working diligently to address the problems that caused the last two Starship test flights to explosively fail.
The upcoming flight, designated as Flight 9, will mark a significant milestone for the Starship program. For the first time, SpaceX will reuse a Super Heavy booster from a previous test flight, demonstrating the company’s commitment to developing rapidly reusable rockets. The booster, which successfully launched and landed during the January test flight, will again attempt to catch itself mid-air using heavy-duty mechanical arms.
However, the primary focus of Flight 9 is to overcome the failures encountered during the last two test flights. In both instances, the Starship upper stage lost power and spun out of control approximately eight minutes after liftoff, with the subsequent explosion resulting in debris falling into the sea near the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. SpaceX investigators, working under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration, determined that the failures were likely caused by propellant leaks leading to fires in the rocket’s aft compartment.
As Breitbart News reported, SpaceX referred to the second explosion as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
To address these issues, SpaceX made several changes to Starship’s design for Flight 9. While the company has not released specific details about these modifications, they likely involve adjustments to the ship’s fuel feed lines, propellant temperatures, and engine throttle settings. On Monday, SpaceX conducted a successful static fire test of Ship 35, the Starship vehicle designated for Flight 9, igniting its six Raptor engines for approximately 60 seconds.
Beyond demonstrating the fixes implemented after the previous failures, Flight 9 will also test several other key elements of the Starship system. These include the deployment of mock-up Starlink broadband satellites from the ship’s payload bay and the performance of an upgraded heat shield designed to withstand the extreme temperatures encountered during reentry.
Read more at Ars Technica here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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