Tag: spacex
Watch Live as SpaceX Attempts First Fully Expendable Falcon Heavy Mission After Delay [Update]
SpaceX’s giant Falcon Heavy rocket is on a mission to directly deliver three satellites to high Earth orbit, which means the company won’t be able to recover any of the three boosters. You can watch the launch live right here.
Watch Live as a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Attempts First Fully Expendable Mission [Update]
SpaceX is getting ready to launch its super heavy-lift rocket for the second time this year, carrying a hefty broadband satellite to a distant orbit above Earth’s equator, as well as a pair of smaller satellites, before being disposed entirely.
The SpaceX Starship explosion was deliberate
About four minutes after SpaceX‘s gargantuan rocket lifted from its Texas launch pad, it burst into a fireball over the Gulf of Mexico, never reaching space.
Though SpaceX hasn’t shared many details yet about what happened during Starship’s maiden voyage, one fact is known: It was intentionally ordered to explode.
Rockets are destroyed in the air when people’s lives could be even remotely at risk of falling debris. In the days since the uncrewed test, no injuries or major property damage appear to have been reported.
When the rocket launched at 9:33 a.m. ET April 20, 2023, some of the rocket’s 33 booster engines had either burned out or failed to light from the start. As Starship ascended, cameras caught views of the flames underneath it, appearing to show some of the engines had cut out.
In a statement released after the incident, SpaceX said Starship climbed to about 26 miles over the ocean before beginning to lose altitude and tumble. Then, self-destruct commands were sent to the booster and ship, which hadn’t separated as planned, the company said.
What ultimately initiated that disintegration isn’t completely clear, Dan Dumbacher, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told Mashable.
“Now it’s a pure race as to whether the aerodynamic pressure breaks the vehicle up or the flight termination system does,” he said, “but it really doesn’t matter because the end result is the same.”
Credit: Screengrab from SpaceX broadcast
Starship is a super-heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft, built to carry immense cargo and astronauts into deep space. The 400-foot-tall stainless steel skyscraper has about twice as much thrust as NASA‘s mega moon rocket that flew into space for the first time five months ago and is fueled with 10 million pounds of liquid methane and oxygen.
SpaceX is used to blowups, and prior to the launch, billionaire founder Elon Musk was frank about the odds for the rocket to work on the first try.
“There’s a lot of risk associated with this first launch, so I would not say that it is likely to be successful,” he said during a video conference with a National Academies panel in 2021. “But I think we will make a lot of progress.”
Despite Starship never having reached space, industry experts largely regarded the launch as a partial success because the rocket managed to clear the launch tower and traveled higher than any Starship prototype had before.
Meanwhile, the general public seemed unsure of how to think of the whole thing: After all, usually, when something big and expensive goes boom, it’s considered bad. But SpaceX has always approached rocketry differently from NASA, working a little messier and faster to achieve its goals.
In terms of the explosive ending, Dumbacher said spaceport safety officers are required to terminate a flight if a rocket meanders into an area where the risk of debris hitting someone on the ground could exceed a probability of one in 30 million.
“People ought to be looking at this as good — the flight termination system, if it was needed, actually worked,” he said.
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Flight termination systems usually consist of a computer wired to explosives within a part of the rocket that allows for the vehicle to be quickly destroyed without causing a huge blast or igniting the remaining fuel. These mechanisms exist in every rocket licensed to launch.
Thursday’s orbital flight test was a crucial demonstration of hardware NASA is depending on to get humans back on the moon in the next few years. The space agency has a $4 billion contract with SpaceX to use Starships to land astronauts on the moon during Artemis III and IV, two upcoming missions that could come as early as 2025 and 2028, respectively. As part of the deal, the company will need to conduct a successful uncrewed test flight to the moon beforehand.
During the test flight, the colossal booster was supposed to separate from the rocket about three minutes after liftoff, then drop into the ocean. The ship would fly 150 miles into space above Earth, then splash down off the Hawaiian coast about 1.5 hours later.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on Thursday, framing the flight attempt as a bold step in the right direction.
Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX will be poring over its data from the brief flight to figure out what led to the problems with the engines and the booster not separating.
The Federal Aviation Administration will oversee an investigation into the mishap, a standard practice for such anomalies. Starship will be able to fly again after the agency determines “any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety,” according to a statement released to Mashable.
“If anything, I would like people to view this as a learning experience for SpaceX, not as a failure,” Dumbacher said. “They’re going to eventually get the system working because of what they learn on these flight tests.”
Get ready: SpaceX Starship will try to fly again soon
Elon Musk lost his claim as having the most powerful space-worthy rocket when NASA blasted its own mega rocket to the moon in November.
But the SpaceX founder could win back the title with his company’s next big project: Starship.
Though the company was unsuccessful during its first try on April 20 —the skyscraping rocket and spacecraft blasted off only to tumble out of control a few minutes later — SpaceX is confident its Starship will reach space soon, breaking records and making history.
During an orbital test flight, the colossal booster needs to separate about three minutes after liftoff and drop in the Gulf of Mexico, according to federal filings. It should then fly in space around Earth at an altitude of over 150 miles before splashing down off the Hawaiian coast. The whole journey should last about 1.5 hours, if it goes as planned.
UPDATE: Apr. 20, 2023, 11:20 a.m. EDT SpaceX’s first attempt at launching Starship on an uncrewed test flight in space exploded in a fiery blast over the Gulf of Mexico just minutes after liftoff Thursday, April 20, 2023. The team will likely try again to reach space in “a few months,” Musk said in a tweet after the incident.
This will be a crucial demonstration of hardware that NASA is depending on to get humans back on the moon in the next few years. And, if successful, it’ll mean Musk is one small step closer to realizing his personal dream of building a city on Mars.
The billionaire business magnate has oversold timelines in the past, but here’s what we know so far about when SpaceX will try this daunting feat again.
What is the SpaceX Starship?
Starship is a super-heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft, built to carry immense cargo and numerous astronauts into deep space.
The 400-foot-tall stainless steel tower looms over NASA’s rocket, the Space Launch System. It would take about five billboards stacked on top of the latter to measure up to Musk’s space vehicle. SpaceX estimates its rocket also has about twice as much thrust.
The rocket is made of stainless steel, a material Musk is particularly fond of due to its relatively low price. Unlike NASA’s mega moon rocket, which flies on super-chilled liquid hydrogen and oxygen, this beast is fueled with 10 million pounds of liquid methane and oxygen. The new fuel can be stored at more manageable temperatures than liquid hydrogen, meaning it doesn’t need as much insulation and is less prone to leaks, a problem that often stymies NASA launches.
Credit: SpaceX
Starship is intended to eventually evolve into a fully reusable launch and landing system, designed for trips to the moon, Mars, and other destinations. Its reusability is “the holy grail of space,” Musk said at a company event in South Texas in February 2022, because it will make spaceflight more affordable to the average person.
“It’s a very hard thing to do,” he said. “It’s only barely possible with the physics of Earth.”
“It’s only barely possible with the physics of Earth.”
Credit: SpaceX
How will NASA use Starship?
NASA plans to use Starships to land astronauts on the moon during Artemis III and IV, two upcoming missions which could come as early as 2025 and 2028, respectively.
The space agency has tapped SpaceX to develop a human landing system version of Starship with a $4 billion contract. As part of the deal, the company will need to demonstrate an uncrewed test flight to the moon beforehand.
During Artemis III, Starship will transfer astronauts from NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the lunar south pole and back. But in the fourth mission, Starship is expected to dock at a moon-orbiting space station, the yet-to-be-built Gateway, and ferry astronauts back and forth to the moon.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters in December 2022 that SpaceX appears to be on schedule with the contract and intends to do an uncrewed moon landing toward the end of this year. That mission would be followed by another landing with astronauts in late 2024.
“Slips are always possible because it’s a brand new system,” Nelson said. “But they have been quite impressive with what they have done with other systems.”
When is Starship’s space launch?
SpaceX has already tried to fly Starship once but didn’t make it to space.
The rocket launched on April 20, exploding over the Gulf of Mexico about four minutes later. Though company officials said they’d need to investigate the incident to fully understand what went wrong, the rocket didn’t separate from its colossal booster and continued to flip in the air. Some debris plummeted into the ocean after the rocket appeared to explode on its descent.
Before that, SpaceX scrubbed a launch during countdown operations on April 17 after encountering a frozen valve causing pressure issues.
Credit: SpaceX
The next try at the launch pad will likely happen in a few months, according to a tweet from Musk after the explosion.
Shortly into January, the company stacked the jumbo rocket at its launch pad, then loaded it with fuel for a so-called “wet dress rehearsal.” SpaceX said the test, a key practice run for any new rocket, was successful.
The team disassembled Starship for a test fire of the rocket booster’s 33 Raptor engines. Musk said 31 of the 33 engines fired for the full duration of the ground test — “still enough engines to reach orbit,” Musk tweeted on Feb. 9.
“Slips are always possible because it’s a brand new system. But they have been quite impressive with what they have done with other systems.”
Where will Starship launch?
Perhaps surprisingly, Starship won’t lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where most space fans are accustomed to watching historically significant launches.
Instead, it will take off from Boca Chica, Texas, at SpaceX’s own spaceport known as Starbase. Eventually, the company will launch the rocket from a site under construction in the outer perimeter of the famous Florida pad that shot Apollo 11 to the moon.
“Their plan is that they’re going to do a few test flights there,” in South Texas, Nelson said. “Once they have the confidence, they will bring the missions to the Cape.”
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How can I watch the Starship launch?
If you’re not on the list to get onto SpaceX’s private Starbase but you’re in the South Texas area, you could try viewing future flight tests from a public beach on South Padre Island, such as Isla Blanca Park.
For viewers at home, SpaceX has been starting a live broadcast of the launch countdown about 45 minutes before liftoff. The livestream feeds were available on Youtube. You can watch the previous ordeal, from ignition to explosion, here, starting at 44:54:
How likely is Starship to succeed?
Well, SpaceX already struck out on the first launch, and that wasn’t entirely unexpected.
“We cleared the (launch) tower, which honestly, was our only hope,” said Kate Tice, a quality systems engineering manager for the company, during the live launch broadcast.
SpaceX has launched partial prototypes of Starship to practice landing, and several exploded or crashed in the process. One succeeded in returning unscathed, however, in May 2021, after flying about six miles up in the sky.
Musk, who doesn’t parse words when it comes to the realities of spaceflight, once said Starship’s test in space wasn’t likely to succeed on the first try.
“There’s a lot of risk associated with this first launch, so I would not say that it is likely to be successful.”
“There’s a lot of risk associated with this first launch, so I would not say that it is likely to be successful,” he said during a video conference with a National Academies panel in 2021. “But I think we will make a lot of progress.”
NASA administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on the bold effort April 20, stating that great achievements through history have demanded “some level of calculated risk.”
What is SpaceX’s plan for Mars?
The SpaceX founder’s ultimate vision is to use a fleet of Starships to send 1 million humans to Mars by 2050.
To be clear, Musk doesn’t just want to establish a place for people to visit but a self-sustaining city. He imagines that, with a bit of warming, humans could restore a thick atmosphere and oceans on Mars, making it a more hospitable environment, even able to grow crops.
“There’s a fundamental juncture in the history of really any civilization on a single planet, which is, do you get to the second planet, or do you not?” Musk told the National Academies in 2021. “I propose we do, and I think we should as soon as possible.”
Credit: SpaceX
“There’s a fundamental juncture in the history of really any civilization on a single planet, which is, do you get to the second planet, or do you not?”
The spacecraft would be spacious enough for 100 passengers, along with their luggage, plus the materials to build homes, businesses, rocket fuel stations, and iron foundries.
The journey getting there would be long, Musk said, but the Starship would have entertainment, such as zero-gravity games, movies, lectures, and a restaurant.
“It can’t feel cramped or boring,” he said at the International Astronautical Congress in 2016, in Guadalajara, Mexico. “It’ll be really fun to go. You’ll have a great time.”
Note: A version of this article was originally published Feb. 4, 2023.
Watch Live: SpaceX Attempts First Starship Launch After Valve Mishap
A frozen valve forced a postponement on Monday, but Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is now ready for the do-over. It’s the most anticipated launch of the year, and we’ve got you covered for what will hopefully be the dramatic debut of Starship.
SpaceX Starship launch countdown: all of the news on its first test flight
SpaceX backed off of its first attempt at launching a Starship prototype to orbital velocity, but it is scheduled to try again Thursday morning.
SpaceX launches a different kind of Starship
How to watch SpaceX launch its record-breaking Starship rocket on Monday
FAA grants SpaceX approval for Starship orbital flight test
The Federal Aviation Administration has given SpaceX final regulatory approval to carry out Starship’s first orbital flight test. Per Ars Technica, the FAA on late Friday afternoon issued the company a license to launch its next-generation rocket from South Texas. “After a comprehensive license evaluation process, the FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integration and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement. “The license is valid for five years.”
Targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbKpic.twitter.com/Ry25Uuvknh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 14, 2023
As of Friday, SpaceX said it would attempt to carry out the long-awaited test on Monday morning, with the launch window opening at 7AM local time. Per Ars Technica’s Eric Berger, the forecast for the Monday launch attempt looks ideal, with moderate winds and clear skies expected. If SpaceX calls the test off, the company has backup opportunities available on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The forecast for Monday morning’s Starship launch attempt looks amazing at the South Texas launch site: Moderate easterly winds, temperatures in the upper 60s (~20°C), and clear skies. Relative humidity is high at the opening of the window, but dropping through the morning.
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) April 15, 2023
Getting to this point has been a long road for SpaceX. In addition to all the technical hurdles it has had to overcome, the FAA put the company’s Boca Chica facility through a comprehensive environmental assessment. Located near the Gulf of Mexico, the launch site is surrounded by wetlands that are home to hundreds of thousands of shorebirds. Last June, the FAA gave SpaceX a list of 75 actions it had to complete to protect the local wildlife around the facility. With those out of the way, now all the company needs to worry about are any remaining technical issues affecting Starship.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/faa-grants-spacex-approval-for-starship-orbital-flight-test-171345195.html?src=rss