SpaceX managed to capture Starship’s Super Heavy booster in flight
SpaceX successfully performed a spectacular maneuver this Sunday: It stuck the booster of its Starship megarocket after a test flight of about nine minutes, a feat that could be a decisive step in the reuse of this heavy launcher.
According to a video released by the company, as the booster, named Super Heavy, touched the ground before returning to its launch pad, mechanical arms installed on the tower, nicknamed “sticks”, closed on the device and immobilized it.
Shortly thereafter, as planned, the upper part of the Starship splashed down into the Indian Ocean.
“The vehicle landed exactly on target,” Musk said of the vehicle’s fifth test flight. “The second of the two objectives was achieved.”
Company employees also celebrated due to the successful “capture” of the booster on the Texas launch pad: “Guys, this is a day for the engineering history books,” a space live broadcast of the company read as “the tower caught the rocket.” “Musk has published on
Takeoff occurred at 07:25 (local time) from SpaceX facilities in South Texas. In June, the company achieved a safe landing in the Indian Ocean for the first time on another test flight.
The aim was to recover and reuse the two parts of the rocket – the largest and most powerful in the world – after each flight, with SpaceX wanting to be able to launch more rockets faster and at lower cost.
Congratulations from NASA
Musk’s company aims to use Starships to colonize Mars and the performance of these ships is being closely monitored by NASA, which congratulated SpaceX on the success of the maneuver and plans to land its astronauts on the Moon. This program has been kept for taking away.
The rocket is composed of a stage called Super Heavy, which measures approximately 70 meters across, and the Starship ship above it, which measures a total of 120 meters. “SpaceX engineers spent years preparing for the capture attempt,” the company wrote before launch. He further added that “thousands of hours” were devoted to “setting up the necessary infrastructure to maximize our chances of success”.
For its part, Starship will continue its flight until landing in the Indian Ocean. The first time it managed to do so successfully was during a test flight four months ago.
SpaceX is developing Starship at full speed, launching unloaded prototypes to quickly fix any problems that may arise in real flight conditions. In recent weeks, the company had openly complained about the slowness of the US aviation regulatory body (FAA) in charge of authorizing flights.
“Completing the paperwork required to obtain a license to launch a rocket takes more time than designing and building the hardware,” the company complained in an unusually long press release in September.
support for trump
Musk, who supported Republican Donald Trump in the November 5 presidential election in the United States, had asked the head of the FAA to resign.
SpaceX is also fighting environmental pollution allegations, particularly related to the flood of water that is poured upon engine start during each Starship launch, in order to dampen acoustic waves and thus limit vibrations. Can go.
This system was added after the first test flight, in April 2023, destroyed part of the launch pad under the force of takeoff, creating a cloud of debris and dust.
Many environmental associations have condemned the harm caused to animal species by SpaceX’s operations, as the space base is located right next to a protected reserve.
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