After weeks of uncertainty, we finally know when the third Starship launch will take place. SpaceX confirmed on his account X (Twitter) what’s the next test flight will take place on March 14. The company is awaiting FAA approval, so the date and time may change at the last minute.
For the next starship test, SpaceX has set ambitious goals. The company said that while the idea is to take advantage of what has been learned on its previous flights, the third takeoff will focus on successfully ascent of both stages, opening and closing the payload hatch and demonstrating fuel transfer during a coastal flight. phase. . Finally, engineers will restart the Raptor’s engine in space before controlled re-entry.
Another important fact is that SpaceX determined a new flight trajectory for the starship. The company says this route will allow them to test techniques such as combustion engines in space. If all goes according to plan, the Starship will land somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX is aware that it will not achieve all of its goals during this launch. The company made it clear that flights are tests for maximum learning. Starship experiments cannot be done in a laboratory because engineers need to get the rocket into the air to experiment in flight conditions.
Starship launches ‘are tests and nothing more,’ says SpaceX
The last time Starship left the launch pad was in mid-November. However, the goal was to have the craft maintain a suborbital trajectory for more than an hour. It exploded when the Super Heavy’s 33 engines were shut down.
“The second flight test achieved a number of important results and provided invaluable data to continue the rapid development of Starship,” SpaceX noted. “This rapid, iterative approach to development has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovation achievements, including the Falcon rocket, Dragon spacecraft and Starlink.”
Starship one of the most important projects for SpaceX. The craft was chosen by NASA to take us back to the Moon as part of the Artemis II mission. Unfortunately, persistent delays in its development and safety issues forced the launch to be delayed until 2026. Until that date arrives, Elon Musk and company will use the time to fix bugs and conduct more test flights.
On the SpaceX launch site you can see The flight path of the starshipand the activities planned by the engineering team to achieve its goal.
Source: Hiper Textual
