SpaceX is preparing to kick off the new year of suborbital flights around the world with a launch of its nearly 40-story-tall Starship rocket from southern Texas Thursday afternoon.
The company is nearing the point at which it can transition to orbital flights with the two-stage launch vehicle, but is still in the process of iterating on the vehicle, from its height and flap design, to avionics and launch support systems.
Liftoff of the Starship Flight 7 mission from the Starbase facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, is set for 4 p.m. CST (5 p.m. EST, 2200 UTC), the opening of a 60-minute launch window.
Weather played spoiler for much of the week for not only SpaceX, but launch competitor Blue Origin, the latter of which was finally able to launch its inaugural New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral earlier on Thursday.
The two companies exchanged support for each other as they both ended up with marquee mission on the same day. The happenstance of these rockets targeting the same launch dayreating a fervor among spaceflight fans dubbed ‘Star Glenn,’ as an homage to the so-called Barbenheimer craze that swept moviegoers when ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ released into theaters simultaneously.
“Congratulations to the Blue Origin team for reaching orbit!” said SpaceX President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Thanks on behalf of the whole team,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp replied. “Rooting for a good flight for you today!”
“Good luck today @elonmusk and the whole SpaceX team!!” Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos wrote in a separate post. Musk congratulate Bezos in a previous post on X.
The Catch (Take 3)
SpaceX is currently batting .500 when it comes to being able to catch the Super Heavy booster with its launch tower named ‘Mechazilla.’ The ability is an important part of the company’s plan for making the launch vehicle rapidly reusable.
After a successful catch on their first attempt during the Starship Flight 5 mission in October, SpaceX was hoping for a repeat performance the following month.
.@SpaceX successfully caught its Super Heavy Booster for the first time on the Flight 5 mission. The Starship upper stage continues to cruise towards making a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Watch live: https://t.co/lwbw2yl6i8
📹: @w_robinsonsmith for Spaceflight Now pic.twitter.com/WSH8Ng0SqP
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 13, 2024
In a statement to its website, SpaceX noted that some of the sensors on the launch tower were damaged during the liftoff of Flight 6, ultimately preventing a catch attempt. The booster was diverted to a propulsive descent and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Several radar sensors will be tested on the tower chopsticks with the goal of increasing the accuracy when measuring distances between the chopsticks and a returning vehicle during catch,” SpaceX wrote.
For Flight 7, SpaceX upgraded hardware on the tower to protect the sensors. That said, if there’s another issue, either on the tower or the booster, SpaceX may once again divert to the aquatic ending for the Super Heavy booster, tail number B14.
“Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, requiring healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director,” SpaceX said. “If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Taking a key step towards reusability, B14 will fly a refurbished engine that was used during Flight 5. Comments from SpaceX founder Elon Musk on X suggest it is Raptor number 314, which features a decal around the number in the shape of a slice of pie (enter joke rimshot here).
SpaceX said it also plans to catch the Ship upper stage at some point during 2025. Musk indicated that it might happen as soon as Flight 8, but that’s not a guarantee.
“This new year will be transformational for Starship, with the goal of bringing reuse of the entire system online and flying increasingly ambitious missions as we iterate towards being able to send humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars,” SpaceX said.
Ode to Starlink
Flight 7 won’t be the first mission to go to orbit and therefore won’t be putting the Version 3 edition of Starlink satellites into low Earth obit. However, it does play a key role in reaching that future.
Onboard the Ship upper stage, tail number S33, are 10 of what SpaceX called “Starlink simulators,” which it said are “similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission.
“The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry,” SpaceX said. “A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.”
The resignation of a Raptor vacuum engine will be key not only for future missions to low Earth orbit and to execute a de-orbit burn following a mission’s conclusion, but also for NASA’s Artemis program.
Starship will serve as the lander that takes astronauts down the lunar surface and back up again during both the Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 missions. Prior to the human-supporting missions, SpaceX will perform an uncrewed landing and ascent demonstration.
On Monday, prior to the launch of 10 NASA payloads onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar landing, Spaceflight Now spoke with Joel Kearns, the Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. He said beyond the execution of the landing demo from SpaceX, there is a possibility that science instruments may fly to the Moon with it.
“NASA overall is looking at that, having discussions with SpaceX for if is there a particular NASA cargo, which isn’t just having SpaceX, through Starship, demonstrate their vehicle capability that would be valued,” Kearns said. “Those discussions are ongoing.”
Like the Blue Ghost lander serves as Firefly’s method of executing missions for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program, Starship serves the same function for SpaceX. At this point though, SpaceX hasn’t been awarded a CLPS contract mission.
“SpaceX is one of the 14 companies in CLPS, but you know, SpaceX is very focused on Starship for both providing the Starship version for the Human Landing System and also for their own corporate goals with Starship,” Kearns said.
“I’m sure once it’s better understood what the real technical capabilities and the costs are of Starship, I really wouldn’t be surprised if SpaceX had some ideas on how to bring CLPS, like cargo, to the Moon once they have all that proved out.”
Ship Block 2
The upper stage of the Starship Flight 7 vehicle, S33, will be the first of the Block 2 variant for SpaceX. It stands at 52-meters-tall (171 ft) with a diameter of 9 m (29.5 ft). That’s nearly two meters taller than the Block 1 variant.
This new version of the fully integrated Starship rocket now stands 123-meters-tall (403 ft). In addition to the height increase, SpaceX also executed on some key structural design changes both internally and externally on the rocket.
“The vehicle’s forward flaps have been reduced in size and shifted towards the vehicle tip and away from the heat shield, significantly reducing their exposure to reentry heating while simplifying the underlying mechanisms and protective tiling,” SpaceX said.
“Redesigns to the propulsion system, including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume, the vacuum jacketing of feedlines, a new fuel feedline system for the vehicle’s Raptor vacuum engines, and an improved propulsion avionics module controlling vehicle valves and reading sensors, all add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer missions.”
SpaceX is also testing upgrades to the upper stage’s heat shield, which will include a backup layer “to protect from missing or damaged tiles.”
Internally, the company said the Ship’s avionics got a massive overhaul, “adding additional capability and redundancy for increasingly complex missions like propellant transfer and ship return to launch site.”
“Avionics upgrades include a more powerful flight computer, integrated antennas which combine Starlink, [Global Navigation Satellite System], and backup [radio frequency] communication functions into each unit, redesigned inertial navigation and star tracking sensors, integrated smart batteries and power units that distribute data and 2.7MW of power across the ship to 24 high-voltage actuators, and an increase to more than 30 vehicle cameras giving engineers insight into hardware performance across the vehicle during flight,” SpaceX said.
