SpaceX is gear up for the seventh trial flying of the Starship , the most powerful rocket ever to launch .
At the current time , the Elon Musk - led space travel company is targeting liftoff forthe afternoon of Wednesday , January 15 .
As with the previous six flights , SpaceX will launch the 120 - metre - tall Starship — which consists of the first - stage Super Heavy booster and the upper stage Starship ballistic capsule — from its Starbase site near Boca Chica , Texas .
If everything lead consort to programme , Wednesday ’s test flight will see the Starship execute its first payload deployment in the figure of 10 Starlink satellite simulators . In another first , the mission will also reprocess a Raptor railway locomotive from the Super Heavy supporter that launched and returned on the Starship ’s fifth flight in October . Additionally , the spaceship will fly with a series of upgrades to the spacecraft , including improvements to its flight computer , avionics , and passion shell .
But many will be follow Wednesday ’s hot stream to see if SpaceX can smash the homecoming of the Super Heavy booster using the launching tower ’s tremendous mechanical arms . SpaceXachieved the remarkable featon the first endeavour ( below ) during the 5th test in October , but was unable to execute it during the 6th test the following calendar month .
G of distinguishable vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to catching the Super Heavy relay link . Thanks to the industrious work of SpaceX railroad engineer , we succeeded with snap on our first attempt.pic.twitter.com/6wa5v6xHI0
& mdash ; SpaceX ( @SpaceX)October 13 , 2024
The Super Heavy plugger is about 70 meters tall , equivalent to a 20 - news report edifice , and the preciseness maneuver involves a controlled filiation , cease with two load points on the side of the booster gently coming to rest on the launch tugboat ’s implements of war .
Bringing the booster home in this direction reserve SpaceX to refurbish the rocket so that it can fly it on multiple Starship mission , helping it to drastically reduce launch costs . SpaceX is also develop a landing place scheme for the Starship spacecraft for when it returns to Earth or touch down on other supernal physical structure . The current test trajectory involve splashdowns in the Indian Ocean .
“ This new year will be transformational for Starship,”SpaceX said , “ with the end of bringing reuse of the intact system online and flying more and more ambitious mission as we ingeminate towards being capable to post humanity and load to Earth orbit , the Sun Myung Moon , and Mars . ”
Digital Trends hasall the selective information you needto take in a alive stream of Wednesday ’s highly anticipated spaceship missionary work .
