SpaceX performed its seventh Starship flight test on Thursday. The company described it as “the most capable Starship ever” and the only one that is fully reusable.
The aerospace giant had a mixed bag of results. They successfully captured the first stage booster on its return to Earth but lost communication with the Starship when it was heading into space.
SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Brownsville, Texas, where the rocket was launched, appears to have successfully lifted off at 4:37 pm CT. The rocket is more than 400 feet tall and powered by a 33 Raptor engine.
Minutes into the mission, however, ground control announced that they had lost all communication with the ship during a live broadcast of the mission.
The company reported that they had lost several engines, and telemetry, and believed the ship to be lost.
SpaceX has confirmed that the rocket launched on Thursday was a new Starship version.
The Starship has been lost. However, the heavy, first-stage booster was able to perform a controlled descent and return back to the Launch Tower, where the giant robotic arms of the tower caught it. This is regarded as one of the most difficult aspects of the mission.
The feat on Thursday marked the second occasion that SpaceX was able to catch the booster stage using the launch tower.
SpaceX claims that Starship, unlike the Falcon 9 rocket which has been used to launch satellites and astronauts into orbit for many years, will be completely reusable. It will also include a heat shield which can be quickly redeployed with little or no refurbishment.
SpaceX claims that Starship is capable of carrying larger payloads such as cargo and satellites than other launch vehicles. It can also support missions lasting a long time to the Moon or Mars.
The company also claims that the launch system can eventually carry up to 100 passengers on long-duration interplanetary flights.
SpaceX claims the test flight featured a redesigned upper phase with improvements such as an upgraded heat shield, a larger propellant capacity, and updated avionics.
The company claims the updates will increase the vehicle’s durability and allow for longer, more complex missions.
The spacecraft was to have deployed 10 Starlink satellite simulations during the mission. This would have been the first time the spacecraft had tested its capability to deliver payloads into space.
The simulators would be launched on a suborbital course, with a splashdown planned for the Indian Ocean.
Mission planners planned to test new materials, and make design changes to improve the spacecraft’s heat resistance when it reenters.
The company stated, “It removed the heat tiles to test how well the vehicle could withstand heat.”
SpaceX planned to refine future designs using the data collected from the test flight.
