Elon Musk’s Starship rocket has become the first in the world to be completed after part of it was captured as it returned to its launch pad.
The lower half of the SpaceX aircraft returned to the side of the launch tower and became entangled in a giant mechanical arm as part of its fifth test flight.
This is a major step forward in SpaceX’s ambitions to develop a fully reusable, rapidly deployable rocket.
When the booster landed safely, SpaceX engineers declared it a “historic day.”
It seemed unlikely that the lower part of the rocket, known as the Super Heavy Booster, would be captured so cleanly on the first attempt.
Before launch, the SpaceX team said it would not be surprised if the booster was directed to land in the Gulf of Mexico instead.
SpaceX can now point to some extraordinary accomplishments in the past two test flights. This came just 18 months after the aircraft’s first flight, which exploded shortly after liftoff.
SpaceX insists that these failures are part of its development plan, so it can anticipate failures and launch early to collect as much data as possible and develop the system faster than its competitors. There is.
The initial stages of the ascent for the fifth test were the same as the previous one, with the ship and booster separating 2 and 35 minutes after leaving the ground.
At this point, the booster began returning to its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.
With two minutes left until landing, it was not yet clear whether a landing would be attempted, as final checks were being carried out by the team operating the tower.
ReutersWhen the flight commander gave the go-ahead, SpaceX employees in the control room cheered.
The company said thousands of criteria had to be met for the effort to take place.
The Super Heavy Booster slowed from speeds exceeding thousands of miles per hour as it re-entered the atmosphere.
As it approached the 146-meter (480-foot) high landing tower, the Raptor engines were activated to control the landing. It almost appeared to be floating, orange flames engulfing the booster and expertly plugged into a huge mechanical arm.
ReutersThe ship portion of the rocket, where equipment and crew would ultimately be kept for future missions, ignited its own engine after separating from the booster.
The aircraft successfully landed in the Indian Ocean about 40 minutes later.
“The ship landed exactly on target! The second of two goals achieved,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote about the X.
Not only did the ship land accurately, but SpaceX also managed to save some of the ship’s hardware, which was unexpected.
Catching the booster rather than landing it on the launch pad reduces the need for complex hardware on the ground and allows for rapid redeployment in the future.
Elon Musk and SpaceX have grand plans for rocket systems to one day take humans to the moon and then Mars, making us “multiplanetary.”
The US space agency NASA will also be pleased that the flight went as planned. It paid the company $2.8bn (£2.14bn) to develop Starship as a lander capable of returning astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2026.
From a space perspective, it’s not that far away, so Elon Musk’s team wanted to relaunch the rocket as soon as possible.
But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. government agency that approves all flights, had previously announced there would be no launches before November as it reviewed the company’s permit.
Since last month, the FAA and Elon have announced that they are seeking to fine his company SpaceX $633,000 for allegedly not complying with license conditions and not obtaining permits for previous flights. Musk has been at the center of public controversy.
The FAA reviews the impacts of the flight, especially the environmental impact, before issuing a license.
In response to the fine, Musk threatened to sue the government agency, and SpaceX released a public blog post pushing back against “misinformation” that parts of its rockets were polluting the environment.
Currently, the FAA only considers the immediate environmental effects of rocket launches, rather than the broader effects of exhaust gases.
Dr Héloïse Marais, professor of atmospheric chemistry and air quality at University College London, said carbon emissions from rockets are small compared to other forms of transport, but other global warming pollution is not taken into account. He said there is a substance.
“Black carbon is one of the biggest concerns. The Starship rocket uses liquid methane, which is a relatively new propellant, and we don’t have very good data on emissions from liquid methane,” she said. said.
Dr Marais said what was so concerning about black carbon from rockets was that it was released into the atmosphere hundreds of miles above the aircraft, where it could last much longer.
