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A SpaceX Starship rocket launched on its third test flight from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, reaching several milestones Thursday morning before possibly disintegrating.
The deep space rocket system underwent an integrated flight test that lasted approximately one hour. At the end of the flight, the spacecraft was expected to land in the Indian Ocean, putting the massive vehicle in a position to move on to more complex test flights and eventually carry NASA astronauts to the lunar surface.
But after reentry, the team lost two important pieces of communication at once: communication with Starlink, SpaceX’s internet service, and communication with TDRSS – that is, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
“The crew called out that the ship was lost, so there is no splashdown today,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said during the livestream. “But it’s still incredible to see how far we’ve come this time.”
SpaceX also never considered saving Starship after this flight test. The spacecraft was expected to make a hard landing. And the Starship spacecraft has flown much further than the previous two tests in 2023.
The company routinely frames malfunctions during these early test flights as normal. The purpose of these flight tests is to collect important data so engineers can go back and make adjustments to Starship and improve it for future missions.
The Starship vehicle, which includes the upper Starship spacecraft and a rocket booster known as the Super Heavy, lifted off at 8:25 a.m. CT (9:25 a.m. ET) from SpaceX’s private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
SpaceX thinks the Starship system is crucial to its founding mission: carrying humans to Mars for the first time. And more importantly, NASA has chosen Starship as the lander that will carry its astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis III mission, which is scheduled to launch in September 2026.
“Congratulations to SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship took to the skies. “Together, we are taking major steps aboard Artemis to return humanity to the Moon and then look ahead to Mars,” wrote NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Xformerly Twitter.
The Super Heavy booster, the first stage or bottom portion of the launch vehicle, came to life and floated over the Gulf of Mexico.
The Super Heavy booster burned most of its fuel and the Starship spacecraft, the upper section located on top of the Super Heavy, separated from the spacecraft.
The thruster was expected to make an autonomous, controlled descent into the ocean, but the thruster “did not activate all the engines we expected and we lost the thruster,” Huot said.
SpaceX said it tried to capture video of what was happening before the booster hit the water. However, the thruster was able to fly farther than a Super Heavy thruster had ever reached before. On the last two flights, the Super Heavy was destroyed in mid-air before it had a chance to attempt landing manoeuvres.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the “mishap” with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. The agency licenses commercial rocket launches and manages accident investigations when spacecraft are lost in flight. Such surveys are routine and are conducted whether or not SpaceX expects the vehicle to disappear.
According to the statement made by the FAA, “A mishap occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-3 mission launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on March 14.” “No public injuries or damage to public property were reported. “The FAA is overseeing the SpaceX-led accident investigation to ensure the company complies with the FAA-approved accident investigation plan and other regulatory requirements.”
According to the live broadcast, the third test flight took place on SpaceX’s 22nd anniversary.
Targeting orbital velocities
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that the primary goal of these early test flights is to get Starship to orbital speeds, that is, speeds fast enough to allow the spacecraft to enter a stable orbit around Earth.
Typically such a feat requires speeds reaching 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour).
Starship achieved its orbital speed target and did not actually aim to enter orbit on this flight.
Starship tests and technology demos
Starship burned its engine for about six minutes before moving into the docking phase. The spacecraft has undergone several important tests and technical demonstrations.
First, Starship reached speeds close to the speed required to put the vehicle into orbit. Starship’s payload door, a hatch that must be opened for the spacecraft to deploy satellites into space after reaching orbit, was also opened before being resealed in a key test of that mechanism.
SpaceX also performed what the company calls a “propellant transfer demonstration.” The goal was to move some of the propellant on the Starship vehicle from one tank to another, according to NASA’s December email announcing the test.
SpaceX engineers designed this demo to understand how Starship will be refueled while in orbit on future missions.
According to the livestream, the team “will need to do some data mining” on both the payload hatch opening and propellant transfer demonstration to determine how successful each test was.
However, after reaching several milestones, SpaceX announced that it chose not to attempt to restart Starship’s engines after a half-hour cruise phase originally planned for flight testing.
Starship is on a “pretty steep path,” Huot said. This meant that whether the engines were restarted or not, Earth’s gravity would rapidly drag the Starship towards Earth.
It’s unclear why SpaceX decided to abandon this test, but engineers noted that a lot of data will need to be evaluated in the coming hours and days.
“The atmosphere is actually doing us a huge favor here by acting as a braking system for the starship,” said Kate Tice, one of the hosts of SpaceX’s livestream.
The Starship spacecraft is lined with approximately 18,000 lightweight ceramic hexagonal tiles designed to protect the craft from scorching heat as it returns to Earth’s atmosphere.
During the livestream, a vibrant halo of bright red plasma created by extreme heat and pressure could be seen shining around the Starship as it entered the atmosphere.
Shortly thereafter, the team lost communication with the spacecraft.
NASA Artemis moon mission
Replenishing the spacecraft’s fuel will be critical for Starship’s future high-profile missions.
When Starship travels to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, it will need to sit in a near-Earth orbit because SpaceX will launch separate vehicles that will only carry fuel to the spacecraft. To reach the moon, SpaceX may need to make more than a dozen refueling trips.
SpaceX received approval from regulators on Wednesday to conduct this latest test flight.
SpaceX’s explosive test flight process
Musk said he was more confident that this flight would be successful compared to the trials in 2023. Success would potentially provide the company with important data that could allow Starship to move on to more challenging test flights.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but I think the probability of reaching orbit is good – 80%,” he said in a recent speech posted on social media. “Definitely the third flight is a much better rocket than one or two flights.”
Still, SpaceX officials have repeatedly said the company does not expect 100% accuracy in these early test flights.
“Each of these flight tests continues to be just that: a test. “These do not take place in a laboratory or test stand, but they put flight hardware into the flight environment to maximize learning,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. “The rapid, iterative development approach has underpinned all of SpaceX’s major innovative advances.”
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