The giant Starship rocket’s rapid progress is unsettling for competitors who are still trying to make their own Falcon 9.
When SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly unveiled the Starship spacecraft in 2019, many doubted the company’s direction. No one had tested the methane engine technology before. The factory where the rocket was being constructed consisted of several tents in the open air. Moreover, the stainless-steel design looked unfinished.
However, nothing cast more doubt on Starship’s viability than its size. The fully reusable rocket, in its current two-stage configuration (booster and spacecraft), is 398 feet long. How did SpaceX plan to recover the 233-foot Super Heavy booster (the lower stage)?
In 2021, Musk revealed that the company would catch it during its descent with the mechanical arms of the Mechazilla launch tower. Everyone, including Musk, was skeptical that SpaceX could manage to achieve it on the first try, but it did. Sunday’s Starship launch was a spectacular and important milestone.
Starship’s Impressive Progress
Starship launches have become increasingly ambitious. Each launch has been more complex than the previous one. The first liftoff in April 2023 was disastrous. The force from the rocket created a storm of rock and sand. Additionally, the spacecraft failed to separate from the Super Heavy booster, and the 398-foot two-stage rocket took too long to self-detonate.
In November 2023, the second flight introduced a flame deflector cooled with powerful water jets to protect the launch pad. The flight also featured hot stage separation to successfully separate the two parts of the rocket for the first time, although they later exploded for different reasons.
In March 2024, the third flight marked the first time Starship completed its ascent phase and reached its target velocity, demonstrating its capability to reach orbit and open its cargo bay to launch satellites. However, it didn’t survive atmospheric re-entry and disintegrated before reaching the ocean.
In June 2024, the fourth flight was the first where the Super Heavy booster achieved a controlled splashdown with incredible precision, “with half a centimeter accuracy.” This was accomplished by ejecting the separation ring hot to reduce its weight and implementing multiple improvements in its internal design to prevent fuel agitation. Starship also splashed down in a controlled manner, although it suffered visible damage and landed several miles from the intended site.
On Sunday, the fifth flight became the most spectacular and successful to date. Instead of repeating a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX sent a command to the Super Heavy booster to return to the launch pad, where the 469-foot-tall Mechazilla tower caught it with its mechanical arms. The Starship spacecraft, equipped with several heat shield upgrades, splashed down at a planned spot in the Indian Ocean.
Nine Years Ahead of the Competition
Let’s travel nine years back in time. In December 2015, the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 11 Orbcomm satellites. It then landed on its retractable legs for the first time in an area set up by SpaceX at its Cape Canaveral facility in Florida.
This was the first instance of a rocket capable of launching cargo into Earth orbit returning from high altitude to land. It marked a historic moment in the space industry. Since then, the only other orbital rocket that has successfully landed is Starship’s Super Heavy booster, which accomplished this feat on Sunday in the arms of the launch tower.
Propulsive landing is a technique that other companies will soon master. These companies include Blue Origin, which already has experience with the New Shepard suborbital rocket, and a host of Chinese startups, such as Deep Blue Aerospace or LandSpace. Additionally, Spain’s PLD Space recently announced the development of Miura Next, a rocket with propulsive landing.
In any case, in the last nine years, SpaceX is the only company that has routinely recovered and reused its rockets. This includes both Falcon 9’s first stage and the Falcon Heavy side boosters. The exception is Rocket Lab, which can reuse its parachute-equipped Electron micro-launchers after fishing them out of the sea. The company previously tried to capture them with a helicopter but realized letting them reach the ocean was more effective.
The reality is that SpaceX is light-years ahead of its rivals. Just when it seemed that the Falcon 9 rocket was finally getting some competition, the company succeeded with Starship. And if that weren’t enough, it did so with a maneuver that looks like something out of a sci-fi book from the 1960s and on the first attempt. Once again, this changes everything.
A Maneuver That Left Everyone Speechless
On Sunday, when the Super Heavy booster separated from Starship and began its descent back to Earth, SpaceX’s computers automatically checked thousands of criteria to ensure that both the Mechazilla tower and the booster were in perfect condition.
The flight director authorized the attempt to catch Super Heavy only after this thorough check. Mission controllers then sent a command to the rocket, directing it to return to the launch pad instead of splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico, as it had done on the fourth launch.
Six and a half minutes after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster glided using its aerodynamic grids and hot gas thrusters. It then reignited 13 of its 33 engines to slow down, creating a noticeable shock wave in the cloud of vapors left behind at liftoff.
Next, the booster maneuvered to the launch tower, which awaited it while closing its robotic arms. The 233-foot, 250-ton rocket was a bit unstable but never touched the tower. Two small hooks on its sides became its only restraint.
The landing was practically perfect on the first attempt. The flames seen in the images came from the exhaust of the fire suppression system. The engines did their job. Although many were left with deformed nozzles from the intense heat and aerodynamic forces, Musk said it’s easily fixable. There was also some minor damage to the rocket’s decks.
SpaceX’s president and COO Gwynne Shotwell was at a loss for words, stating, “I don’t know what to say.” The whole world gasped at the company’s spectacle.
A Crucial Day for SpaceX and the U.S.
Starship’s Super Heavy, known as Booster 12, might not be reusable, but SpaceX plans to make it so. It won’t be that easy.
SpaceX’s experience with Falcon 9 has enabled the company to land the Super Heavy booster, but Starship’s capabilities far exceed those of Falcon 9. Starship will quadruple the payload capacity of its predecessor, and the future Starship 3 version will double it again. This will allow SpaceX to launch many more Starlink satellites per mission, aiming to provide 1 Gbps Internet worldwide, a speed comparable to fiber-optic connections.
Unlike Falcon 9, Super Heavy doesn’t have legs. This design choice is aimed at saving weight and the extra fuel needed for landing. Starship is designed to be fully and quickly reusable. After landing, the booster will return to the tower arms that initially placed it on the launch pad. The goal is for these boosters to be launched multiple times a day, each time with a different Starship stacked on top.
To put this into perspective, the Falcon 9 rocket lands on a floating platform at sea and is then towed back to SpaceX’s facility. It takes about a month to refurbish the rocket for its next flight. Thanks to this process, the company has significantly reduced launch costs and currently launches 80% of all cargo into space.
It takes SpaceX 50 minutes to load fuel and oxidizer into Starship. After it lifts off, the Super Heavy booster takes six minutes to return and is caught in flight by the Mechazilla tower. The tower’s arms then place it on the liftoff pad and stack another Starship on top. If SpaceX achieves rapid reusability, a single Super Heavy booster could be ready for liftoff again within an hour.
SpaceX’s dominance in the space market doesn’t solely rely on reusable Starship stages. However, the company is actively working on solving the heat shield challenge to make the spacecraft fully reusable. This will enable the rocket to land and take off from Earth, and facilitate missions to the Moon and Mars.
Overall, Sunday was a historic day for SpaceX as it continues to distance itself from its competitors. It’s also a significant milestone for the U.S., which remains ahead of China in space technology, largely due to the advancements made with the Starship spacecraft.
Image | SpaceX
Related | SpaceX Has Achieved What Seemed Impossible: Catching the Starship’s Booster on Its First Attempt
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