SpaceX will debut numerous enhancements in the second launch of its mega-rocket, Starship. The expectations for this spacecraft couldn’t be higher, as if everything goes well, it will carry humans to Mars within a decade.
These improvements include a significant change in the way the two stages of the rocket separate, enhancements in the propulsion system, and a reinforced launch platform in South Texas that should better withstand the explosion of the 33 main engines.
“There are a tremendous number of changes between the last Starship flight and this one, over a thousand,” said Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX. “So, I think the probability of this next flight working, reaching orbit, is much higher than the previous one. Maybe it’s around 60 percent. It depends on how well we do with the stage separation.”
More than 1,000 changes to keep the rocket from exploding
Musk outlined some of the modifications to the Starship rocket during a Twitter Spaces debate on Saturday with journalist Ashlee Vance. He stated that the next Starship rocket and updates to the launch platform at the Starbase facilities in South Texas should be ready for the next test flight in about six weeks. “That’s the best we know right now,” Musk said.
The Starship vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, and SpaceX plans to use it to deploy satellites into orbit, build refueling tankers and propellant depots, and eventually transport cargo and crew to the Moon and Mars.
SpaceX’s long-term goal is to replace its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule with the private Starship vehicle.
Officials at SpaceX expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the first full test flight of the Starship on April 20th, which reached an altitude of approximately 38 kilometers before losing control due to multiple engine failures and the loss of the rocket’s guidance system.
The test flight set the record for the largest and most powerful rocket ever launched, standing at 120 meters tall and producing around 15 million pounds of thrust from its methane-fueled Raptor engines.
The rocket is divided into two segments. A booster stage called Super Heavy, equipped with 33 Raptor engines, is designed to propel the vehicle through Earth’s atmosphere. Then, an upper stage with six engines—simply known as Starship—takes over to accelerate to orbital velocity.
One of the most significant changes SpaceX is introducing in the design of the Starship is the separation of the booster from the upper stage, which occurs about three minutes after liftoff. The April test flight of the Starship did not achieve the milestone of stage separation.
“We made a sort of last-minute change that is really quite significant for how stage separation works, which is to use what’s called ‘hot staging,’ where we light the engines of the upper stage, or ship, while the engines of the first stage, or booster, are still firing,” Musk said.
Russian rockets, such as the Soyuz, have been using this technique for decades, but it is not employed in any modern U.S. launchers. Typically, rockets shut down their booster engines for a few seconds before jettisoning the first stage and igniting the upper stage engine.
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