SpaceX's Starship Booster Achieves Soft Landing and Future Plans
TapTechNews, June 9th. Two days ago, after the Starship booster successfully achieved a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX shared a new video of the rocket's final moments. The Starship Super Heavy booster is powered by 33 Raptor rocket engines and is currently the world's most powerful rocket. The fourth Starship test flight last Thursday was also the first time SpaceX successfully destroyed the booster as planned.
This test was the fourth flight of the complete Starship stack and the Super Heavy booster. The footage shows the Super Heavy booster slowly descending to the sea surface, and then the screen switches to the rocket's internal camera, presenting the scene of the rocket's last few seconds.
This is the first time SpaceX or any other agency has shared footage of the Super Heavy booster from an external camera. SpaceX's early test activities for its Falcon 9 rocket often remotely filmed the rocket, and the fourth Starship test flight also adopted this method. After liftoff, the first-stage booster transports the second stage to suborbital space and then ignites the engines several times for boost-back and landing ignition.
The return process of the booster is similar to that of the Falcon 9. Both adopt the method of flipping and then relying on the boost-back ignition to reach the designated landing area. However, operating the Super Heavy booster is more challenging because it depends on more engines. These engines have been proven to have problems in the early Starship test activities, but over time, SpaceX has improved their performance.
The footage of the booster landing shows the rocket sliding back to the water surface, covered by a steam cone, and then the engine ignites for landing ignition. The ignition slows down the rocket's speed to achieve a smooth landing, which is an important part of the rocket landing process because SpaceX plans to eventually catch it with a launch tower.
After the ignition, the rocket initially appears shaky but then stabilizes. At this time, flames eject from its side. However, this multi-story booster still gracefully slides towards the water surface and achieves a soft landing.
SpaceX's Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket in the world. During the launch process, the Super Heavy booster undertakes all the heavy lifting tasks, making it the largest part of the entire Starship system. According to SpaceX, the booster is 232 feet (about 70.7 meters) high and carries 3400 tons of fuel when lifting off. Due to the need to reduce weight, the fuel tank is almost empty when landing. To further reduce the weight of the rocket, SpaceX will also abandon its Hot Stage Ring in the future.
A successful soft landing also opens up the possibility of using the tower for recovery in the fifth flight. According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, The next landing will be caught by the tower arm. Musk's statement shows that he is quite confident in his rocket, as attempting tower recovery may carry the risk of failure.