SpaceX plans to conduct the sixth test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket system, Starship, in Texas on November 18.
Starship during a high-altitude test flight. Image: SpaceX
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also issued a NOTAM warning about a rocket launch in SpaceX’s launch area in Boca Chica, Texas. The 30-minute launch time frame will begin at 4:00 p.m. on November 18 local time (5:00 a.m. on November 19, Hanoi time).
It took SpaceX 18 months to conduct the first five test flights of Starship, of which the fifth flight took place just last month. If the company launches a sixth flight next week, it will be the fastest turnaround time to date, just over a month since the last flight.
What’s on Starship’s 6th flight?
In many respects, flight 6 will be similar to flight 5, but there are some important differences. The Super Heavy booster stage will again test a “chopstick” landing – the launch tower’s arm will catch and hold the rocket in place as it returns to the launch pad, then lower it to the ground. This method helps reuse the booster stage many times and significantly reduces the cost of transporting goods to orbit.
The Starship upper stage will launch into space, fly in an incomplete orbit, then reenter Earth’s atmosphere to land in the Indian Ocean. But this time, it will try to reactivate one of the Raptor engines while in space to collect valuable performance data. It will also test a new heat shield design during reentry.
Another difference is that the launch will take place at a later hour so that the Starship’s upper stage landing in the Indian Ocean is filmed in daylight, ensuring better detail. In previous flights, this stage landed at night, so the footage did not give the engineering team as much information as the daytime footage.
SpaceX successfully recovered Starship’s booster stage in the 5th test. Video:Space
Achievements in the previous 5 flights of Starship
During the first test flight on April 20, 2023, three of the 33 thruster engines failed to fire. The rocket then lost control and self-destructed.
The second flight on November 18, 2023 went further, reaching enough altitude for the thruster and upper stages to separate as planned. The booster stage exploded before reaching the ground and the upper stage self-destructed, although the rocket system successfully reached space.
The third test on March 14 this year was partially successful when the upper stage once again reached space, but could not return to the ground intact.
During the next flight on June 6, the upper stage reached an altitude of more than 200 km and moved at a speed of more than 27,000 km/h. Both the thruster stage and the upper stage landed gently into the sea.
The fifth flight on October 13 was the most ambitious test to date, with the Super Heavy rocket stage returning to the launch pad and being safely captured by the Mechazilla launch tower with “chopsticks”. Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage lands in the Indian Ocean.