SpaceX to Attempt Tower Capture of Super Heavy Booster in Fifth Starship Orbit Test Flight

TapTechNews July 29th news, after the last successful Starship test flight, Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX's next test flight will further increase the difficulty, that is, using the robotic arm of the launch tower, this pair of chopsticks to complete the capture and recovery of the Super Heavy Booster.

On Sunday local time, Musk disclosed in the XTakeover live event that SpaceX's fifth Starship orbital test flight mission (IFT-5) is expected to be carried out in late August or early September, that is, the combination of the Super Heavy Booster (B12) and the Starship spaceship (S30).

Elon Musk predicted that the success rate of capturing and recovering the Super Heavy Booster in this mission is only about 50%, and the probability that the heat shield/thermal cover of the Starship can still be intact after reentering the atmosphere is about 60%.

Before the start of IFT-5, SpaceX has begun to test the function of the tower arm by clamping samples to prepare for its tower capture attempt, and will subsequently capture the 232-foot-tall booster with this.

In fact, this tower capture attempt belongs to the industry's first pioneering technology. So far, SpaceX still seems to be promoting this key test.

Strictly speaking, this attempt to capture the rocket is the most dangerous attempt of the company in all five test processes. If SpaceX fails to prepare in advance, otherwise an explosion destroys the launch pad, it will lead to the postponement of all subsequent tests and will make SpaceX face more regulatory reviews (TapTechNews note: the failure of the first flight last year led to severe damage to Launch Pad A, which in turn led to months of project delays). Of course, SpaceX will not risk recovering it in an unstable situation (because the launch pad is much more expensive than the Starship).

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