Starship flew away and could not return. Why is it still a success?

On March 14, 2024 at 16:25 Moscow time, SpaceX performed the third test launch of the giant Starship launch vehicle into space. Not everything went smoothly, as is already known. But still, during takeoff, nothing exploded or fell off. The company itself calls the tests successful. According to the team, the launch demonstrated the real ability to send large volumes of payloads into orbit, which is an important step in the development of space technology and paves the way for future missions to other planets and satellites.

Three, two, one, go!

Starship is designed to deliver 150 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit. According to Elon Musk, when used in one-time flight mode, Starship will be able to deliver up to 300 tons of cargo. The importance of the project for the company, and for all humanity, is enormous. SpaceX has multi-billion dollar contracts with NASA, and the space industry has the opportunity to deliver people to the Moon as part of the Artemis mission, send colonists to Mars and implement other interesting projects.

And there are prospects. The third experimental launch of the first upper stage of Super Heavy with the Starship rocket installed on it took place on March 14, 2024 from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas at 08:25 a.m. local time. SpaceX delayed the launch by almost an hour and a half to wait for the ships to leave the testing area.

The fact that the rocket did not explode immediately after the start of the process is an undoubted success! All 33 Raptor methane engines on the Super Heavy's first stage operated correctly, burning 20 tons of fuel per second.

After the Super Heavy separated, the Raptor's six engines continued to burn for approximately 6 minutes, increasing speed to 26,500 km/h. The indicator was slightly less than planned, but this deviation was not critical. Starship rose to a maximum altitude of 234 kilometers.

Video cameras installed on the first stage and on the ship itself captured every second of the flight. One of the cameras recorded the Super Heavy compartment. A camera aboard Starship captured video as it flew over the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and Africa. Another one, installed inside the ship, captured sunlight reflected from the steel structure. A beautiful flight, to be sure.

Atmospheric reentry

46 minutes after launch, Starship transmitted one of the most impressive videos back to Earth. At this stage, the device quickly descended, entering the planet's atmosphere. Temperatures around the Starship rose above 1,370°C, but the situation seemed to be under control.

SpaceX officials said Starship transmitted a live video feed during reentry via the Starlink network. Usually at this moment, communication with the object is lost due to interference, and radio silence can last for several minutes. But this is where Starlink satellite communications came to the rescue.

The data arrived without problems at the SpaceX mission control center until the ship reached an altitude of 65 kilometers. Then the device went silent. Most likely, Starship burned and collapsed over the Indian Ocean, in the area between Madagascar and Australia. This was the first time SpaceX tracked a spacecraft as it entered Earth's atmosphere.

There are problems, but overall everything is good

The progress compared to previous test runs is obvious. Last April, the Raptor's engines failed during takeoff and damaged its launch pad in Texas. The second Starship launch took place in November 2023. Then none of the engines failed, and the rocket almost reached its target speed. However, a fuel leak caused the Starship to self-destruct over the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Raptor engines have proven their best twice already. This confirms that the design of these complex engines developed by SpaceX is becoming more reliable and mature, so to speak. SpaceX was able to fix the problems and improve the reliability of the Raptor.

On the way to the goal

During the test launch, Elon Musk wrote an emotional message on his social network X: “Starship has reached orbital speed! Congratulations to the SpaceX team!”

Indeed, the company was able to successfully complete this and several other tasks that were not achieved last year. In particular, they tested the ship's cargo compartment hatch. In the future, it is planned to launch satellites into Earth orbit through it. Company representatives also noted that the transfer of liquid oxygen between two tanks inside the rocket was successfully implemented. SpaceX plans to fly into deep space and deliver astronauts to the Moon for NASA missions. Transferring hundreds of tons of super-cooled fuel and refueling in Earth orbit will save time and money during launch.

However, several goals remained unfulfilled. Thus, the first stage of Super Heavy fell into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico 7 minutes after launch. The braking system did not work properly, and some of the 13 central engines failed. The stage began to rotate uncontrollably, lost contact with the controls and collapsed. The hard landing means the Super Heavy stage can no longer be used on future flights. You'll have to use a new one. But its wreckage will be given to specialists to investigate the causes of the failure, which will help correct the situation and prevent a similar problem in the future.

Another of SpaceX's new goals, namely restarting one of its engines in space, was also not achieved. Although all 33 Raptors on the accelerator successfully launched and operated for the entire time until the stages were separated.

SpaceX may delay relaunching Starship into a stable low-Earth orbit with a cargo of Starlink satellites until engineers can demonstrate the ability to restart Raptor engines in space and control the vehicle during re-entry. If they do not restart, the device cannot be returned to Earth. In this case, Starship will remain in orbit of the planet as debris, which poses a threat to the implementation of other space missions.

SpaceX plans to demonstrate the process of space refueling – the exchange of fuel between two Starship spacecraft in orbit – later this year. However, this will require the completion of an additional site at the Starbase launch site in Texas or Florida. Whatever SpaceX has in mind, we won’t have to wait long. The company has already requested permission from government regulators to conduct more than 9 test flights this year, including the one that has already been completed. In a recent post on social network X, Elon Musk hinted at plans to complete six Starship launches by the end of this year.

Well, all that remains is to wish him and his company good luck – we are looking forward to new achievements.