SpaceX determined to not catch Starship’s booster with the launch tower at Starbase on the rocket’s sixth check flight earlier this week because it misplaced communication with the launch tower pc, firm CEO Elon Musk mentioned on Wednesday.
What Occurred: “Misplaced comms to the launch tower pc. Catch would most likely nonetheless have labored, however we weren’t certain, so erred on the aspect of warning,” Musk wrote on social media platform X.
The sixth check flight of the Starship launched from Starbase on Nov. 19.
The booster lifted off however as a substitute of returning it to the launch website as deliberate to be captured by the launch tower, the corporate selected to splash it down within the Gulf of Mexico the place it subsequently exploded.
“Automated well being checks of important {hardware} on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch try,” SpaceX mentioned in regards to the resolution.
The Starship spacecraft went in to house after separation from the booster, reentered Earth, and splashed down within the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX demonstrated its skill to catch the Starship booster again on the launch tower throughout its final flight check in October. The transfer is important for the corporate’s imaginative and prescient of reusing the booster.
“We simply handed 400 launches on Falcon (the corporate’s different launch automobile), and I might not be shocked if we fly 400 Starship launches within the subsequent 4 years,” SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell mentioned on the Baron Funding Convention in New York final week.
Future Flights: For the upcoming flight check, SpaceX will try to land the Starship spacecraft within the ocean but once more.
“We are going to do yet one more ocean touchdown of the ship. If that goes properly, then SpaceX will try to catch the ship with the tower,” Musk mentioned on Tuesday.
SpaceX is aiming to make the Starship wholly reusable by touchdown each levels of the rocket again at Starbase after a launch.
The corporate’s workhorse- the Falcon 9 rocket- is just partially reusable.
Why It Issues: Starship is SpaceX’s most formidable launch automobile.
NASA’s Artemis 3 mission slated to launch no sooner than September 2026 is predicted to allow people to land again on the floor of the moon with the assistance of the Starship human touchdown system. The final time people set foot on the Moon was in 1972 with Apollo 17. Since then, no crew has traveled past low-Earth orbit.
Musk, in the meantime, is eyeing taking people to Earth’s neighboring planet Mars aboard the Starship. In September, he mentioned that the primary Starship launch to Mars is predicted in 2026 and that it’s going to not have a crew on board.
Nonetheless, the Starship has but to hold any payload to house.
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Photograph courtesy: SpaceX
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