First flight starship left SpaceX hungry for revenge Although the company considered it a success, the inability to enter low Earth orbit is a thorn that Elon Musk wants to get rid of. And that is why they are working tirelessly to release the second version as soon as possible, and with a lot of changes compared to the original test.
was his own Elon Musk (by using Ars Technique), which have recently confirmed that they will over 1000 modifications for the second takeoff of Starship. They will touch the ship of the same name and the Super Heavy rocket, but will not be limited to them. It is also expected to implement a new procedure to achieve stage separation, as well as several improvements to the launch pad.
During his participation on Space Twitter, the CEO of SpaceX stated that he sees the probability of getting into low Earth orbit significantly higher than the probability of the first Starship test flight. However, he made it clear that 100% is still far away.
“There are really a lot of changes between the last Starship flight and this one. Over 1000. I think this next launch is much more likely to work and reach orbit than the last one. Maybe it’s like 60%. It depends on how well we do with the separation of stages,” said Elon Musk.
What SpaceX will change for the second Starship launch
While the mogul didn’t mention all the changes that will be applied to Starship for its second test flight, he did mention the most important ones. One of the decisive moments for your success will be the separation of the upper stage and the super-heavy rocket. It was one of the failures during the April test, ending in “an unscheduled quick dismantling”; a fancy way of saying the car exploded in mid-flight.
To separate the steps SpaceX will try to do it “in hot pursuit”. As Elon Musk explained, the 6 Starship engines will turn on before the 33 Raptor Super Heavy engines are completely shut down. Simply put, this will lead to the ejection of the rocket. A decoupling technique that is not new but has not previously been used on US platforms.
Since the ignition of the Starship’s engines will occur before separation from the SuperHeavy, some kind of expansion with ventilation between them will be included. As such, he will seek to secure the safe escape of the hot gases generated when starting the ship’s engines, which are still docked.
On top of this, SpaceX had to redesign the top of the rocket. add a protective heat shield. Since the company is betting on the reuse of the Super Heavy, it must prevent it from being burned every time the Starship’s motorization is turned on.
more changes
The Raptor engines of the Super Heavy rocket will also be optimized for the second Starship launch. Elon Musk mentioned improvements to prevent overheated gases from escaping and stronger protection so that the engines don’t damage each other. But that is not all. The thrust vectoring system will become electric instead of hydraulic, which was used in the first flight.
Infamous modifications are also being made to the SpaceX launch pad. Let’s remember that during the first flight of the Starship, the force of the takeoff was such that a hole was left in the ground. Debris, including large chunks of cement, stainless steel sheets and other metal parts, is estimated to have spread over nearly 350 acres and even started a fire.
To prevent this from happening again, Elon Musk says they have chosen an “extreme” solution. Thus, applied 1000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete with two water-cooled steel plates on top. “It looks like a giant upside down shower head. It will throw water upwards while the rocket is on the platform to counteract the enormous heat of the propellant,” the tycoon explained.
The launch of the second Starship does not yet have a confirmed date. At the end of April, it was said that modifications to the ship and launch pad would be ready in 60 days. However, this period is almost over, and there is still no official news. Elon Musk said last Saturday that they will have everything ready within 6 weeks. If this happens, the hypothetical new flight will only be scheduled for August as the earliest date. However, SpaceX must first obtain new approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Source: Hiper Textual
