These words sound too grandiloquent, but we cannot do without them — history is being made before our eyes. The fifth test flight of the superheavy Starship space system fulfilled its goals and ended successfully. Elon Musk has shown that the iterative approach in space exploration works and gives amazing results.
For the first time in history, the accelerator of a reusable superheavy rocket returned back to Earth and landed on the launch pad. He was caught using robotic manipulators, and on the first attempt.
What is it?
The superheavy Starship space system is sure to become one of the main achievements of world cosmonautics in the first half of this century. Why the system, and not a rocket or a launch vehicle? The fact is that Starship structurally consists of two parts — the first stage (or Super Heavy accelerator) and the second stage (actually the Starship ship). Both of these parts are reusable and returnable.
To implement this, the Starship system is made of stainless steel, not aluminum alloys, as is customary in the world of space exploration. Yes, aluminum is lighter, but it does not allow you to withstand heat and overload when returning.
The first stage — Super Heavy — has a height of 71 m and a width of 9 m. The accelerator tanks hold 3,600 tons of fuel, including 2,800 tons of liquid oxygen and 800 tons of liquid methane. In order to lift this colossus into space, 33 Raptor engines are installed on it, which are arranged in three concentric rings.
The second stage — the Starship itself — is slightly smaller, about 50 m long. It combines two functions — an apparatus for reaching orbit and a reusable spacecraft capable of flying and returning back to Earth. In general, this system is the realization of a long—standing dream of all space designers, when the rocket and the ship return to Earth entirely.
The Starship system is capable of delivering 100-150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit in a reusable version and up to 250 tons in the case of a one-time use of the accelerator.
How was it?
On October 13, the fifth Starship flight was carried out and the fourteenth, if you count all the prototypes. Elon Musk has stated from the very beginning that he chooses an iterative approach to designing such a complex system. This means that design changes are constantly being made after each launch, and by the beginning of development, the creators did not have a single clear plan.
Two Starship trials in 2023 ended in failures, which generated a lot of skeptical remarks and comments. However, SpaceX continued its work, ignoring neither the bureaucratic problems associated with issuing official flight permits, nor the technological difficulties with the manufacture of Raptor engines. This year, the company introduced a new, already the third iteration of these engines — this is a lightweight version of the Raptor 2 engine, which does not need a heat shield and a fire extinguishing system.
Two trials in 2024 (before October 13) were much more successful. Each time, the creators complicated the task assigned to the Starship space system. The main purpose of the October fifth flight was to return and successfully land not on water, as before, but on the launch pad, directly on the supports of a special retaining tower, called Mechazilla (Mechazilla, "Mechanical Godzilla").
This Starship flight lasted just over an hour. 145 seconds after the launch, at an altitude of about 70 km, the stages were separated and the engines of the second stage were started. The separation of Starship is carried out according to the "hot method", which means that the engines of the second stage begin to work even before the moment of undocking. This is not a novelty in cosmonautics, this is how the separation of the second and third stages of the Russian Soyuz launch vehicle takes place.
After undocking, the first stage began maneuvers and re-activation of the engines for braking. At that moment, she had already gained a lot of speed and altitude, which means she had to turn around and fly back to the starting point, simultaneously extinguishing the speed. The fact is that for a rocket to enter orbit, it is not so much height that is very important (it is not a problem to dial it) as speed, and therefore all modern rockets enter orbit in an arc, moving eastward and using the speed of rotation of the Earth. The last section of the flight is almost horizontal, it is needed to set the first space speed, as a rule, by this point the altitude has long been gained.
On October 13, at the final stage of braking of the first stage, the command was given from the control center (MCC) of the first stage to land on the launch pad, and not in the ocean. At that moment, she still had quite a lot of vertical speed. When the rocket was about a kilometer from the launch pad, 13 engines located on the inner rings of the accelerator turned on. In the last seconds of the flight, 10 external engines shut down, and only 3 central ones continued to work. Then the step appeared exactly between two pairs of elements of the Mechazilla capture mechanism, they got closer and captured it.
Meanwhile, almost eight minutes after launch, the second stage entered Earth orbit. She then re-entered the atmosphere in the Indian Ocean area. This time, judging by the video, Starship received less damage than in previous times — obviously due to additional reinforcement of the tiles and the addition of an ablative layer in the most exposed to high temperatures places. Starship started the braking engines and slowed down before landing, however, as can be seen in the footage, an explosion occurred already in the water. The SpaceX investigation should show why this happened. However, it is clearly visible that the Starship landed strictly in the designated place. This indicates the success of the flight.
What does it mean?
In fact, the complexity of the operations performed is hard to even imagine. 71 m Super Heavy is the height of a 23-storey building. An accelerator of this size, weighing 180 tons without fuel and moving with the help of three rocket engines, was caught by a huge Mechazilla rack. The footage clearly shows how neatly and gracefully this hulk lands. I repeat, there has never been such a thing in the history of cosmonautics.
After a short time, the accelerator was lowered onto the launch pad. Obviously, this operation was carried out to show how it will happen in the future, which has almost come. Judging by the footage, Super Heavy also received only minor damage, which was confirmed by Elon Musk: "I examined the Super Heavy accelerator, which Mechazilla's hands installed back on the launch pad. He looks great! Several engine nozzles are deformed due to heating and some other minor problems, but this is easy to fix. The Super Heavy is designed to eventually be ready to make a new flight within an hour of launch. The accelerator makes a return in ~ 5 minutes, so the remaining time is spent on refueling and integrating the ship."
Of course, talking about the hour interval between the launches of one accelerator is still out of the category of fiction. However, judging by the speed of the SpaceX developers, they are moving very quickly in this direction. In 2024, the company showed that their superheavy space system is getting closer to reality. Already, Starship can be used as a single-use superheavy launch vehicle with a returnable first stage. However, it seems that only a few months remain until the day when humanity's dream comes true — to fly into space and return on the same rocket.
