SpaceX is finalizing preparations for the launch of a new, larger Starship mega-rocket. It has already been delivered to the launch pad, and the team is working on the final preparations for the test launch scheduled for January 13, 2025. This was reported by Ars Technica.
The launch is scheduled to take place from the SpaceX Starbase in South Texas. The launch window opens at 17:00 Eastern Time (00:00 Kyiv time). This will be the seventh full-scale test flight of SpaceX’s super-heavy launch vehicle and Starship spacecraft, and the first launch in 2025.
In the coming days, SpaceX technicians will lift the spacecraft to the top of the Super Heavy booster, which has already been installed on the launcher. Then the teams will complete the final tests and prepare for the countdown.
“The upcoming flight test will launch a new generation ship with significant upgrades, attempt Starship’s first payload deployment test, fly multiple reentry experiments geared towards ship catch and reuse, and launch and return the Super Heavy booster,” SpaceX representatives wrote in the mission overview.
On January 13, SpaceX plans to repeat many of the maneuvers performed during the fifth and sixth Starship test flights. In particular, the company will again try to return the first stage of the launch vehicle to the launch pad and grab it with two mechanical “arms”.
In this test, SpaceX has installed a protective coating for the sensors on the tower and will test radar systems on mechanical “arms” to more accurately determine the distance to the object.
For the first time, one of the Raptor engines will be installed on the rocket, which was removed from the previous megastar, which was successfully returned in October 2024. This is an important step for SpaceX in the direction of reusable space launches.
After the upper stage separates, the Starship’s upper stage will launch six engines to nearly reach orbital velocity, gaining enough energy for a halfway around the world flight. Gravity will then return it to the atmosphere. As with the three previous test flights, SpaceX plans to ensure the Starship’s controlled reentry and landing in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch.
Next week, engineers will focus on testing key updates to the upper stage. The most noticeable change in Starship Block 2 concerns the front flaps. Their design has been changed: the size has been reduced and the location has been shifted closer to the nose of the ship, which provides better protection against extreme heat during reentry.
For next week’s flight, the Super Heavy and Starship will together hold more than 4.7 tons of propellant and oxidizer. The volume of the ship’s fuel tanks has been increased by 25% compared to previous versions of the rocket, while the payload bay, which holds 10 Starlink mock-ups, has been slightly reduced. These changes added almost 1.8 meters to the rocket’s height, which will now reach 123.1 meters.
This will allow SpaceX to break its own record for launching the largest and most powerful rocket created by mankind. In the future, the company plans to surpass this result with an even larger Starship Version 3, which will be equipped with nine upper stage engines instead of six and will be able to deliver up to 200 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit.
Among other changes that will debut on Starship Version 2 next week is a vacuum-coated engine:
- Vacuum jacketing of fuel supply pipelines
- New fuel supply system for Raptor vacuum engines
- Advanced propulsion avionics module that controls the ship’s valves and reads data from sensors
- Redesigned inertial navigation and star tracking sensors
- Integrated smart batteries and power packs to distribute 2.7 megawatts of power throughout the ship
- Installing more cameras on board the ship
The enhanced avionics system will support future missions to prove SpaceX’s ability to refuel Starships in orbit and return the vehicle to its launch site. For example, SpaceX will use a more powerful on-board computer and new antennas that integrate communication with Starlink satellites, GPS navigation satellites, and redundant functions for traditional radio communication channels.
SpaceX says that thanks to Starlink, the Starship can transmit more than 120 Mbps of real-time high-definition video and telemetry at every stage of the flight.
Approximately 17 minutes after launch, over the Atlantic Ocean, Starship will release 10 payload dummies that are the same size and weight as the next generation Starlink satellites. Like the spacecraft itself, the dummies will follow a suborbital trajectory, circle the Earth and re-enter the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX is re-activating one of the Raptor engines in the vacuum of space, repeating a successful test conducted during the sixth flight in November 2024. Restarting the engine is important for several reasons: it allows the spacecraft to maneuver from low orbit to enter the atmosphere (which is not applicable to Starship suborbital tests), and also makes it possible to launch the spacecraft to higher orbits, to the Moon or Mars after SpaceX has mastered the technology of orbital refueling.
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