SpaceX sets date for historic Starship engine test in space

Elon Musk's SpaceX is gearing up for another Starship rocket launch. The third attempt will take place on March 14, 2024, with the launch window opening at 11:00 AM Greenwich Time. The possibility of launching the rocket will end at 1:00 PM Greenwich Time.

Starship is a mega-rocket designed not only for transporting the largest payloads into orbit but also for significantly reducing the costs of such transport. Starship is also expected to play a key role in the colonization of the Moon, then Mars, as well as in deep space flights. A properly developed fleet of Starships could even enable constant transport connection between Earth and the Moon.

SpaceX has many ambitious goals for the upcoming flight. As in the last attempt, which ended in an explosion, both stages of the rocket, i.e., the booster (first stage) and the Starship vehicle (second stage), are expected to launch.

The booster will detach from the second stage after 2 minutes and 44 seconds of flight, already in space. It will then slow down and head back, to land on water using engines briefly ignited for this maneuver. At the moment of separation, Starship will activate its own engines, which will accelerate it for a short phase of flight in space. When this phase ends, the vehicle will re-enter the atmosphere and begin landing in the Indian Ocean. This will be the first attempt to start this rocket's engines in space.

The test will be broadcast live. It can be watched, for example, in a dedicated post on the X (Twitter) platform as well as on YouTube.

The entire Starship system measures 120 metres in height. The first stage, at a height of 70 metres, is powered by 33 Raptor engines, fueled by liquid methane and oxygen. Their combined power is twice that of the Saturn V rocket engines used by NASA in the Apollo program. The height of the Starship vehicle itself is 50 metres. The vehicle is powered by 6 Raptor engines, three of which are adapted for use in space.

The whole assembly is clearly taller than Saturn V and more than twice as tall as the entire Space Shuttle launch system. The payload capacity of Starship for low Earth orbit flights is an impressive 150,000 kilograms. For comparison, the new European rocket Ariane 6 in its stronger variant will be able to carry 20,000 kilograms. Ariane, like the NASA-built SLS rocket, cannot be reused. The costs of building both projects are high.

If Starship begins its regular operation, it has the chance to change the way space flights are conducted. An additional advantage of the project is that it can land both at the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, at the Kennedy Space Center, and on special, ocean-based floating units.

The rocket's first launch took place in December 2020, when the second stage rose to a height of over 12,000 metres, reaching the planned altitude. The prototype returned to Earth, slowing down with engines, but due to too high a speed, it exploded. According to SpaceX, the cause of the disaster was too low pressure in the fuel supply tanks. Because of this, the rocket hit the ground at a too high speed.

The next attempt took place in November 2023. This time, Starship was supposed to reach orbit. Shortly after the successful separation of the first and second stages at an altitude of 70,000 metres, the first stage exploded. The same fate befell the second stage shortly before reaching orbit.

Although both tests ended in explosions, they were considered a sort of success. The rockets flew and provided SpaceX with knowledge, thanks to which it was possible to analyze weak points of the construction. Explosions of rockets, including Falcons also built by SpaceX, are not extraordinary. Subsequent failures allow engineers to improve the designs.