It’s unclear how long SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will remain grounded while engineers investigate a rare launch error last week. However, the next test flight of the company’s next-generation Starship appears to be on track for launch next month.
On Monday, SpaceX tested the 33 Raptor engines on the Starship rocket’s Super Heavy booster at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The methane-fueled engines burned for about eight seconds, long enough for SpaceX engineers to verify that all systems were functioning normally. At full power, the 33 engines generated nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, twice as much as NASA’s iconic Saturn V moon rocket.
SpaceX confirmed that the static fire test had reached its full duration, and teams were extracting methane and liquid oxygen from the rocket, known as Booster 12 in the company’s inventory of ships and boosters. The upper stage for the next Starship test flight, known as Ship 30, completed a static fire of its six Raptor engines in May.
During Starship’s fourth flight on June 6, SpaceX successfully guided the Super Heavy booster back into a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico east of Starbase. The ship continued into space, completing a half-orbit around the planet before reentering the atmosphere for a guided propulsive splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
This was the first time that SpaceX has managed to get the booster and ship close to their intended splashdown locations. The on-target water landing of the Super Heavy booster gave SpaceX officials the confidence to attempt a recovery of the booster during the next flight at Starbase, where giant hinged arms — colloquially known as “chopsticks” — on the launch tower will attempt to catch the rocket as it slows into a hover directly above the launch pad.
Kathy Lueders, SpaceX’s general manager at Starbase, told Locals last month that SpaceX was still considering a booster capture on the next flight. The capture concept is bold and very different from how SpaceX retrieves Falcon 9 boosters, but SpaceX officials believe it’s the best way to retrieve boosters for rapid reuse. Earlier this month, SpaceX released a teaser video for the next Starship flight, suggesting that booster capture was back on the table.
Full duration static fire of Flight 5 Super Heavy booster photo.twitter.com/8rF9KUdMUD
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 15, 2024
SpaceX will also use the fifth Starship test flight to test an improved heat shield on the ship, or upper stage, after a re-entry heater damaged the vehicle during descent on its previous flight last month. In a hangar a short drive from the launch pad, technicians are working to replace thousands of ceramic tiles on Ship 30's outer skin.
Once that work is complete, SpaceX will place the ship atop the booster and potentially conduct a full countdown rehearsal a few days before the first launch attempt, which could happen as early as August.
Meanwhile, construction is well underway on a second launch pad at Starbase. Construction teams have stacked the first few segments of the truss launch tower a short distance from the existing Starship launch pad. Within a few years, SpaceX plans to have two active launch pads in Texas and two Starship launch sites in Florida to support an increasing Starship flight frequency.
These Starship missions will launch Starlink internet satellites, conduct in-space refueling tests, and support NASA's Artemis lunar program.
