SpaceX has realized that the spaceship is too heavy to land, so in a few days it will try something new

• So far, the Super Heavy stage has not completed its landing maneuver.

• The hot separation ring added nine tons to the rocket, and that’s a problem for SpaceX

Starship’s fourth test launch is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 5. The world’s largest and most powerful rocket will repeat its previous flight, but SpaceX has a problem to solve weight if you want to demonstrate your vitality.

Hot spacer ring. Starship’s first test flight was a complete failure. In addition to destroying the launch pad, the two stages of the rocket were unable to separate, so SpaceX added a ring with slots between them to perform what is called a hot separation.

Beginning with the second test flight, the Starship fires up its engines to move away from the Super Heavy launch vehicle. The hot separation ring protects the fuel from ship engine exhaust. While the starship continues its journey into space, the super-heavy one turns vertically and lands.

Difficult maneuver. So far, Super Heavy has never completed a landing maneuver. The idea is to use aerodynamic arrays and mobile engines to test in the ocean what SpaceX plans to do later in the launch tower, where mechanical arms will catch the fuel before it hits the ground.

The main reason this test has failed a couple of times is the engines’ oxygen intake filters are clogged, which in turn is caused by fuel mixing after separation. SpaceX plans to solve this problem with more advanced filtration systems, but there is one more detail that prevents the maneuver from being successfully completed.

Too heavy to land. The hot split ring added nine tons to the Super Heavy. Not much compared to the launch vehicle’s 250 tons, but that’s almost half of what the Falcon 9’s first stage weighs.

Super Heavy uses different oxygen and methane tanks than those used for takeoff and landing. They are smaller than the main tanks and were designed without taking into account the weight of the ring, so they are not sufficient for landing. The rocket is too heavy.

Solution: Throw away the ring. SpaceX will solve this problem by dropping the hot separation ring mid-flight. According to Flight 4’s schedule, the ring will separate from Super Heavy at 3:54 minutes, two seconds after the engines turn off to bring the launch vehicle into the landing position.

It will be interesting to see (if any cameras will pick this up because the angle makes it seem difficult for onboard cameras to capture) but it will by no means be a definitive solution. SpaceX plans to lighten Starship and redesign the rocket’s internal tanks in its V2 version.

Starship 2 will not only solve Starship 1’s extra weight problems, but will also be able to launch twice the payload: 100 tons. That was the original promise of SpaceX’s largest rocket, but we recently learned that the current version of Starship can only take off with 50 tons, which is less than what the Falcon Heavy is capable of launching.

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