SpaceX says its next Starship test flight will try to do something no rocket has done before: fly all the way around Earth, then bring the ship back to its Texas launch site for a catch by the launch tower’s mechanical arms.
The company laid out the Flight 15 plan in an update Saturday. Bringing the upper stage home is the last big step toward reusing the entire rocket, which SpaceX says would let it fly again quickly, carry more satellites to orbit and lower costs for Starlink and launch customers. On earlier flights, Starship ended its missions with splashdowns in the ocean.
A 21-hour trip around Earth
Starship will first launch on a path that falls safely into the Indian Ocean if anything goes wrong early. Once flight controllers confirm the vehicle is healthy, they will give a “go” for orbit, and a single engine will push it to orbital speed.
In orbit, Starship will deploy a batch of Starlink V3 satellites. Three of them are modified to take pictures of Starship’s heatshield, one of several checks on whether the ship is ready to come home. The ship will then coast in orbit for about 21 hours while controllers run constant health checks. If a problem appears, they can end the mission early with splashdowns in pre-cleared parts of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii or off Chile.
Coming home over land
To reach Starbase, Starship must fly over inhabited areas of northern Mexico and southern Texas, something its earlier flights avoided. SpaceX says it will send the ship back only if it meets return conditions approved by federal aviation regulators. The ship will steer with its four flaps along a path over sparsely populated areas, weaving around the major cities of the Rio Grande Valley before a final turn toward the launch site. People in Cameron County may hear one or more sonic booms as it arrives.
The catch
Over Starbase, Starship will flip vertical, fire its engines and slow to a near hover between the tower’s arms at Pad 2. The arms will then close rapidly to catch the ship by two fittings below its forward flaps. If anything is wrong with the ship or the tower, controllers can break the vehicle up high in the atmosphere or steer it into the Gulf instead.
SpaceX calls full recovery of an orbital rocket the “Holy Grail” of rocketry because it would allow a vehicle to fly again rapidly, like an airplane.
In plain words: SpaceX wants to catch its biggest rocket with giant arms instead of dumping it in the ocean. If it works, rockets could fly again and again, making satellite internet and space launches cheaper.
JBizNews Desk | Starbase, Texas
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