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> "After it launches, the Super Heavy rocket will fly from SpaceX's Starbase launch site eastward, over the Gulf of Mexico. For this test, the booster will not
by elihu 4y ago
> "After it launches, the Super Heavy rocket will fly from SpaceX's Starbase launch site eastward, over the Gulf of Mexico. For this test, the booster will not attempt a landing. After stage separation, the Starship upper vehicle is intended to reach orbital velocity before attempting a reentry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. If all goes well, it will make a controlled descent and landing into the ocean just north of the Hawaiian islands."
A shame we won't get to see the booster land. And it sounds like they aren't trying to capture the upper stage either, unless they have a really big drone ship.
- grecy 4y agoLots of speculation that SpaceX will likely try to "soft land" the booster in the ocean, just like the did with Falcon 9 first stage the first ~handful of times they were trying to land it (or, more accurately, learn how to land it). Possibly similar with the upper stage too, just so they can practice and learn.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoI think the upper stage they might use lacks the control fins necessary for their landing maneuver.
- sbuttgereit 4y agoThe upper stage uses the belly flop maneuver and it has the fins for that. So they could go through the whole process as far as the vehicle is concerned.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoSpaceX has one upper stage that they built without those fins. I was under the impression it might be used for the first flight, but someone else clarified that one is expected to fly another time, and the first flight is expected to use a normal ship capable of belly flop.
- djaychela 4y agoYeah, there is some speculation on the no-fins starship - either it's a prototype for the nasa moon starship (which would need no fins as it's never going to be in the atmosphere again), or it will be a disposable one to deliver the first set of v2 starling satellites to orbit, with a better chance of success and payload as it won't have the weight of all that stuff.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoYeah that makes sense thanks.
- pantalaimon 4y agoCould also be a prototype for the orbital tanker needed for the a Artemis mission
- dotancohen 4y agoThe orbital tanker would likely come back, no? Just like the ships ferrying up the fuel to it. Once it's moved the fuel to the lunar ship, there's no reason to splash it in the ocean if SpaceX is already capable of landing Starships.
- gduzan 4y agoSpaceX does have one without the aerosurfaces and heat tiles, but that isn't the one lined up for the first launch. Ship 24 should be able to attempt the reentry flop-and-flip maneuvers, assuming the test gets that far. Last I heard, Elon was only giving the first test a 50% chance of getting to orbit.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoAh gotcha thanks for the clarification!
- esskay 4y agoUpper stage has more control ability than the falcon 9. The belly flop testing proved this. They'll be able to bring it down for a controlled soft touchdown in the ocean.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoWhat I meant is that they have one upper stage in their lot which is missing some parts, some of the important aerodynamic control surfaces for controlled reentry. But another comment suggests that while this ship could be flown soon, it probably won’t be flown on the first test. Instead, a ship with all of the control surfaces will be flown, and that one can do the bellyflop.
- esskay 4y agoAh sorry yes, that ones likely the one they've been contracted by NASA for the moon landing, or it's a prototype for the in-orbit refuling.
- stetrain 4y agoThey most likely want or need to prove that they can reliably bring these things down in a controlled manner to a soft landing. They did the same thing with the early Falcon 9 landings, bringing them in to a "soft" landing over a set of GPS coordinates in the ocean. Once they can demonstrate this process to a certain degree, they can start working through the permitting process to try actually bringing them in over land.
- russdill 4y agoDepending on availability, there are a couple of NASA assets that may capture the flight of the booster and the re-entry and descent of the second stage.