SpaceX’s massive prototype rocket, Starship, which could eventually carry people to Mars, is getting ready for its next flight on Thursday.
The most potent launch system ever constructed will be put through its fourth test, which is essential to both SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s ambitions to colonize the Red Planet and NASA’s plans to land astronauts on the Moon later this decade.
At 7:00 am local time (1200 GMT), the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, opens for a two-hour liftoff window. The Federal Aviation Administration has given its approval and the weather looks favorable.
Three previous attempts have ended in Starship’s fiery destruction, all part of what the company says is an acceptable cost in its rapid trial-and-error approach to development.
“The fourth flight test turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy,” SpaceX said in a statement.
Super Heavy is the booster, while Starship refers to both the upper stage and the two stages combined.
The flight path will be similar to the third test, which took place in March and saw Starship fly halfway around the globe before it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, 49 minutes into the mission.
Since then SpaceX says it has made several software and hardware upgrades and hopes to achieve a soft splashdown for the booster stage in the Gulf of Mexico, and a “controlled entry” for the upper stage.
Designed to eventually be fully reusable, Starship stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall with both stages combined — 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Its Super Heavy booster produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons) of thrust, almost double that of the world’s second most powerful rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System — though the latter is now certified, while Starship is still under development.
SpaceX’s strategy of carrying out tests in the real world rather than in labs has paid off in the past.
Its Falcon 9 rockets have come to be workhorses for NASA and the commercial sector, its Dragon capsule sends astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, and its Starlink internet satellite constellation now covers dozens of countries.
But the clock is ticking for SpaceX to be ready for NASA’s planned return of astronauts to the Moon in 2026, using a modified Starship as the lander vehicle.
To accomplish this, SpaceX will need to first place a Starship in orbit, then refuel it with multiple “Starship tankers” for its onward journey — a complex engineering feat that has never before been accomplished.