Elon Musk has revealed on X that the fourth integrated test flight of the SpaceX Starship will take place in three to four weeks. SpaceX will attempt demonstrate the reusability of the spacecraft by safely retrieving it at the end of the flight.
The SpaceX Starship being prepped for launch. (Image Credit: Elon Musk/X).
New Delhi: Elon Musk has indicated on Twitter that the fourth test flight of the SpaceX Starship is expected to take place in three to five weeks. SpaceX has conducted three test flights of the integrated stack with the Starship nested on top of the Super Heavy booster, after a series of developmental test flights for the Starship alone. In the first integrated flight test, the launch pad was busted, the booster exploded on the second flight but the Starship didn’t veer off course, and on the third flight, the spacecraft disintegrated before splashing down into the ocean.
Probably 3 to 5 weeks.
Objective is for the ship to get past max heating or at least further than last time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2024
In the fourth flight test, SpaceX will attempt to land the Super Heavy booster and attempt to keep the Starship intact till the splashdown. SpaceX validated the performance of the hardware in a static-fire test last week, where all six Raptor engines were fired while the stack was clamped to the pad. Flight 4 will be another high-altitude flight, with an atmospheric reentry, where SpaceX will attempt to capture as much data as possible about the performance of the hardware in general, and the heat shield in particular.
Lunar Starship
The Starship is a spaceship designed to ferry humans to the Moon and Mars. The Starship is expected to provide access to the lunar surface on the Artemis III mission, which is slotted for 2025, but unlikely to occur by that time. The Lunar Starship will not need fins or a heat shield because of a lack of atmosphere on the Moon. The lunar Starship is also expected to be equipped with solar panels for generating power.
Beyond the Moon
The goal of the Starship is to make humanity a multiplanetary species, and Mars is a crucial destination of that journey. The Mars Starship would have increased thrust, and a heat shield that can survive reentry into the Martian atmosphere multiple times. These interplanetary vehicles would require refueling in orbit, a capability that SpaceX intends to demonstrate with a Starship flight next year.