SpaceX confirmed that it plans to launch its large Starship rocket for the third time as early as March 14 in social media posts Wednesday.
SpaceX is still awaiting launch regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, otherwise Starship will remain grounded. Although the FAA has not yet given the green light for SpaceX’s next mission, there are indications that the company already expects to receive it soon. Just this past weekend, the team at the Starbase facility in southwest Texas completed critical launch “wet loading” rehearsals, loading more than 10 million pounds of propellant into the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket and practicing the countdown. Timing to T- sequence 10 seconds.
The FAA further confirmed late last month that Complete survey For SpaceX’s second Starship launch, regulators said at the time that the company must complete 17 “corrective actions” before a revised launch license can be issued. If these are approved in the next week or so, the company should set a target date of March 14.
SpaceX conducted its first Starship orbital flight test in April last year; there was a seven-month gap between this test and the second test in November last year. Both end with the super-heavy booster and upper stage (also known as the starship) exploding in mid-air. Despite these disastrous conclusions, the second test went significantly further than the first, with the company demonstrating some key techniques that it couldn’t perform the first time around.
There’s no doubt the company hopes to keep this trend going, although the third test introduced some new, very ambitious goals, including a propellant transfer demonstration during the Starship’s upper stage taxi phase and reigniting a Raptor for the first time in space engine. Propellant transfer, in particular, is a critical capability that the company must master to complete NASA’s multibillion-dollar mission to the moon.
For the most part, the upcoming launches will have the same basic mission profile. If all goes according to plan, the sequence of operations should be this: Shortly after launch, the Super Heavy booster will separate from the starship using a novel “thermal staging” separation technology that involves the upper stage igniting its engines to push the starship away . booster. The booster will then complete its own “boost burnback,” similar to how the Falcon 9 booster returned to Earth and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile, the starship upper stage will continue to ascend into orbit. Once it reaches orbital speed, it will shut down its engines and glide almost around the Earth before falling into the ocean. Unlike the previous two missions, this time the company will fly a new orbit that will have Starship splashdown in the Indian Ocean (rather than the Pacific near Hawaii) in an attempt to reignite the Raptor engines in space.
SpaceX emphasized on its website that the mission was part of a test program designed to allow the company to collect data on the vehicle’s performance in a real-life flight environment.
“This rapid iterative development approach is the foundation for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements, including Falcon, Dragon and Starlink,” the company said. “As we work to build a fully reusable transportation system, recursive improvements are critical, The system is capable of transporting crew and cargo into Earth orbit, helping humans return to the moon and ultimately to Mars and beyond.”
