Despite its explosion during the historic launch earlier this year, SpaceX is back at it once again, saying it will only need another six weeks to finish its hundreds of changes to the Super Heavy/Starship rocket before it takes off for a second time.
The company’s founder, Elon Musk, shared the update on Saturday, saying that the company is almost ready for a second attempt at reaching orbit.
A different version of the Starship will be responsible for putting humans back on the moon through NASA’s Artemis program, highlighting the importance of having the rocket be successful.
Musk shared the news in a Twitter Spaces discussion with author Ashlee Vance. During the conversation, he said that SpaceX has been implementing “well over a thousand changes” to the rocket.
“I think the probability of this next flight working, getting to orbit, is much higher than the last one. Maybe it’s like 60%. It depends on how well we do at stage separation,” Musk said.
However, another flight will only be possible if the Federal Aviation Administration allows clearance to fly after the rocket’s first launch on April 20.
During that first launch, the rocket blew itself up after suffering numerous engine failures, while the upper stage of Starship failed to separate from the first-stage booster.
The failure to separate was an issue for the rocket as SpaceX has designed the first stage Super Heavy boosters to be reusable, a feature expected to save billions of dollars in the world of space exploration.
The Super Heavy first stage has 33 methane-powered Raptor engines compared to the Starship second stage’s six. During the first flight, half a dozen engines experienced some sort of failure, which resulted in the rocket not making it high enough before it started to fall, and a self-destruct was initiated.
Musk says that the second flight for Starship will have a different stage separation system, which he described as a “late-breaking change that’s really quite significant.”
The Starship’s engines will start up before all of the Super Heavy engines have shut down, resulting in what is referred to as a “hot Staging” technique.
“We shut down most of the engines on the booster, leaving just a few running, and then at the same time, start the engines on the ship, or upper stage,” he said. “Obviously, that results in kind of blasting the booster, so you’ve got to protect the top of the boost stage from getting incinerated by the upper-stage engines.”
Musk says they will modify the top of the Super Heavy stage, including the addition of shielding and vents to direct exhaust plumes from the upper stage.
Related
Related
