As in a previous test in January, the SpaceX company lost on Thursday March 6, contact with the second floor of its megafusée Starship, the ship, while managing to recover the first floor in a spectacular maneuver.
“We have lost contact with the ship”Gravely announced Dan Huot, a SpaceX official, Elon Musk’s entering, during a video retransmission. “This had already happened the last time, so we have acquired some experience in the matter”he added in a lighter tone, specifying that SpaceX worked “In close collaboration with the air traffic control authorities”.
During the last mid-January test flight, the ship had exploded in full flight, causing a rain of incandescent debris above the Caribbean, with minimal hardware damage in the Turkish-and-Caica islands archipelago, located more than 2,500 kilometers from the launch site. The American aviation regulator, the FAA, had to briefly divert planes and ordered an investigation and a suspension of theft. Last week, the agency said the investigation continued, but assured that it had authorized the flight resumption after making “The complete security exam required”.
123 meters high, the size of a building of about forty floors, the Starship rocket, which the company develops for travel to the moon and March, had set off in the Sky of Texas without incident shortly after 5.30 p.m. local time (0.30 am in Paris).
The reuse of the vessel and the propellant, always the objective of SpaceX
A few minutes after takeoff and separation of the two floors, the propellant called “Super Heavy” started a controlled descent towards the pitch before being immobilized by mechanical arms installed on the launch tower. The very complex and spectacular maneuver was successful Thursday by the company for the third time, under the applause and cries of joy of its teams. “Wow, we will never get tired of it”Exclaimed Kate Tice, another SpaceX employee, before the news of the loss of communication with the ship throws a cold.
Elon Musk aims that Starship is ultimately completely reusable, a characteristic that would considerably reduce the necessary costs and resources. To do this, the entrepreneur also intends to recover the Starship vessel, which constitutes the second floor of the rocket and gives his name to the whole, soon. “I think we will succeed in rapid reuse of the entire structure – the ship and the propellant – next year”He said at the end of February in a podcast. But for this eighth test flight, the ship had to finish its race in the Indian Ocean, as in previous tests.
Criticized practices
These problems are far from being the first to occur during a starship test flight, SpaceX developing its rockets at full speed and focusing on multiple prototype launches to quickly correct the problems encountered in real flight situations, even if it means multiplying voluntary or involuntary explosions. This philosophy has made the company’s success, but is not free from criticism. Associations have thus filed a complaint against the American authorities by accusing them of having misused the environmental impact, while the company’s space base in Texas is located near protected natural areas. The close proximity of Elon Musk to President Donald Trump is feared as possible interference in the actions of the regulatory authorities.
Under the presidency of Joe Biden, the richest man in the world had often questioned the FAA, accusing it of excessive surveillance on his business. According to the Bloomberg agency, a SpaceX engineer went to the regulator’s headquarters two weeks ago, urging his teams to work on a program aimed at deploying thousands of Starlink satellites, also developed by Elon Musk, under penalty of losing their job. What SpaceX denied: “Recent articles on SpaceX and FAA are false”Assured the company on the X platform, also owned by the richest man in the world.
