SpaceX’s Starship Set for Fifth Test Launch: Aiming for Lunar Missions and Mars Exploration

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A LocationX scheduled for this Sunday morning (13) the fifth test of Starship, a vehicle with which the Elon Musk intended to bring people back to him Quote and, who knows, one day Marte.

The launch is scheduled for 9 am (Brazil time) and will take place in Boca Chica, Texas. Approval for the test was granted by the FAA, the agency that regulates civil aviation and commercial space launches in the US. United States.

The vehicle must be used in the Artemis program, from Nose. The plan of the American space agency is to use it in Artemis 3, scheduled for 2026 and which aims to bring people to the surface of the moon for an unprecedented study of the south pole of the satellite, and in Artemis 4, to is expected for 2028 and should continue. construction of lunar orbital station and also landing.

Two stages make up the vehicle: a carrier, called Super Heavy (first stage), measuring 71 m, and the ship itself, called Starship (second stage), measuring 50 m. Starship is also the name of the rocket as a whole.

With a transport capacity between 100 tons and 150 tons -something like taking a Boeing 747–, the vehicle should change the rules of the game in space exploration.

oh first test took place in April 2023. The flight ended, however, with engine failure and the explosion of the vehicle after a short climb of 40 kilometers into the upper atmosphere and without separation between the two levels.

No second publicationin November of the same year, the two levels were separated and the flight went further, with the second one reaching a height of 150 kilometers. It reached a place, but it ended up exploding, the same as the first stage.

A third attempt it came in March 2024, when a “quasi-orbital” flight was made, that is, the vehicle did not complete a lap around the Earth, but showed its ability to reach orbit. During the flight, SpaceX even conducted experiments, opening and closing the door of the cargo area and moving a carrier from one tank to another.

oh fourth flightin June of this year, it ended with the first stage, Starship, coming alive again to the Earth’s atmosphere, when the outside of the rocket is exposed to temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees Celsius. Another accomplished goal was the controlled return of the second stage (the Super Heavy), which made a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

This time, SpaceX intends not only to land the Super Heavy gently, but also to recover it, as is regularly done with the Falcon 9. For the first stage , the Super Heavy, is expected to win again. a challenge of surviving re-entry into the atmosphere and shooting for a landing in the Indian Ocean.

Musk’s company says it has promoted improvements in all phases for this new test and in both the launch and return towers of the Super Heavy.