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The largest and strongest rocket ever constructed is about to get even bigger.
On Monday (Oct. 13), SpaceX launched the eleventh take a look at flight of its Starship megarocket, sending the 403-foot-tall (124 meters) car aloft from its Starbase web site in South Texas.
The suborbital flight was a whole success. Both of Starship‘s elements — its Super Heavy booster and Starship (or “Ship” for short) upper stage — came back to Earth for pinpoint splashdowns. Ship also managed to relight one of its engines in space and deploy eight dummy payloads.
Flight 11 was a big moment for the Starship program, and not just because everything went so well. It was also a swan song, the final liftoff of the vehicle’s “Version 2” variant.
“Focus now turns to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, with multiple vehicles currently in active build and preparing for tests,” SpaceX wrote in a Flight 11 wrap-up post.
“This next iteration will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer and more as we iterate to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and beyond,” the corporate added.
That subsequent iteration is Starship Version 3, which will likely be about 5 toes (1.5 m) taller than its predecessor. V3 will look so much like V2, however there will likely be massive variations “under the hood,” SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot mentioned through the Flight 11 launch webcast on Monday.
For instance, the V3 Ship’s propulsion system has been overhauled to accommodate Raptor 3, a brand new, brawnier model of the engine that powers each of Starship’s phases. (Super Heavy has 33 Raptors and Ship has six.)
“We’re also getting energy storage upgrades, tons of avionics changes — a lot of things that will enable longer-duration missions,” Huot mentioned.
“One notable thing you’ll start seeing on the outside are these new docking adapters, which we’ll use when we bring two Starships together for propellant transfer,” he added. “That’s a core capability of Starship that we’re going to demonstrate next year.”
Indeed, in-space gasoline switch is an important a part of any Starship deep-space mission. Ship higher phases certain for the moon or Mars will launch with a minimal quantity of propellant onboard (to save lots of mass for payloads) and can subsequently want to satisfy up with a number of “tanker” ships in Earth orbit to gasoline up.
The V3 Super Heavy, in the meantime, incorporates a redesigned gasoline switch tube, a large metallic construction that channels cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen right down to the booster’s Raptor engines.
“New boosters are also going to have an integrated hot stage, a lot more vent area, and it’s designed to be fully reusable,” Huot mentioned. (The sizzling stage marks the junction of Super Heavy and Ship; the “hot” half refers to the truth that Ship begins firing its engines earlier than it has totally separated from the booster.)
The V3 Super Heavy may even have simply three grid fins — the waffle-like constructions that assist the booster steer its approach again to Earth for pinpoint touchdowns — as a substitute of V2’s 4.
“They’re 50% larger, though — much higher strength,” Huot mentioned. “They’re also going to get used for vehicle lift and catch.”
The lifting and catching will likely be finished by the Starship launch tower’s “chopstick” arms. These arms elevate Ship and Super Heavy onto the launch mount, they usually’ll additionally catch each automobiles after they come again house after liftoff. (SpaceX has carried out three such chopstick catches with Super Heavy to this point however has not but tried it with Ship.)
All 11 Starship take a look at flights have lifted off from Starbase’s Orbital Launch Mount 1. That pad will go on hiatus for a spell, nonetheless, because it’s overhauled to accommodate Starship V3.
“Among many other things, we’re installing a new orbital launch mount, a new flame trench system and upgrading the chopsticks for future catches,” Jake Berkowitz, a SpaceX lead propulsion engineer, mentioned throughout Monday’s launch webcast. “So until that’s complete, we’ll be running launches from Pad 2, which will be online very soon.”
Starship V3 will likely be able to flying to Mars and should effectively accomplish that subsequent yr, if testing continues to go effectively: SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has mentioned the corporate wish to launch a small fleet of uncrewed Starships to the Red Planet through the subsequent alternative, which is available in late 2026. (Earth and Mars align correctly for interplanetary missions simply as soon as each 26 months.)
Over the lengthy haul, nonetheless, SpaceX plans to depend on a fair larger and extra highly effective Starship — one which stands a whopping 466 toes (142 m) tall and sports activities 42 Raptors as a substitute of the present 39. This V4 iteration is predicted to debut in 2027, Musk has said.
2027 could possibly be a landmark yr, for each SpaceX and NASA. It’s when the company goals to launch its Artemis 3 mission, which can land astronauts on the moon for the primary time because the Apollo period. The lunar lander for that epic mission will likely be a Starship higher stage.
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