The “Super Heavy” booster of the Starship rocket returns to its launch pad, on the Starbase base, near Boca Chica, Texas, October 13, 2024 (AFP / SERGIO FLORES)
The American company SpaceX will try once again on Wednesday to catch up with the first stage of its Starship megarocket, the largest and most powerful ever built, a technical feat that it has only achieved once.
The company of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, managed to carry out this impressive maneuver last October, under the stunned gaze of many Internet users and spectators gathered there.
But a month later, she failed to reproduce this success in front of President-elect Donald Trump, who made the trip.
123 meters high, the size of a building of around 40 floors, Starship is due to take off for this seventh test flight from 4:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. GMT) from a company space base located in Texas.
Another launch window is scheduled for Thursday at the same time, according to the US aviation regulator.
After takeoff, the two stages of the rocket – the booster called Super Heavy and the Starship spacecraft giving the name to the whole – must separate and the booster must begin its descent to return to its launch pad.
Instead of then landing vertically as the boosters of other rockets do, it must then be immobilized by mechanical arms installed on the launch tower. An unprecedented maneuver in the history of space development.
– Environmental impact –
SpaceX boss Elon Musk and Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2024 (AFP / Jim WATSON)
This will be Starship’s seventh test flight, the first having resulted in explosions – intentional or not – of the device. With each new flight, the company evolves its rocket.
Since the last test, “major improvements” have been made, notably to the propulsion system and the heat shield, SpaceX said on its site. On Wednesday, it will also attempt a first loading deployment in space during the flight.
The company is developing its rockets at full speed, relying on multiple prototype launches in order to quickly correct problems encountered in real flight situations.
If this mantra has made it successful, with SpaceX now dominating the market for launches into orbit, it is not exempt from criticism.
Associations have thus filed a complaint against the American authorities, accusing them of having poorly assessed the environmental impact, even though the Texan space base is located near protected areas.
– Carte blanche? –
The Starship rocket is designed to eventually be fully reusable, a feature that would significantly reduce costs and resources required.
However, this specificity also allows the increase in the rate of launches, which notably cause significant noise pollution.
When he returns to power, Donald Trump is expected to lift a number of environmental regulations, which worries residents living near the base, who fear that carte blanche will be given to the wealthy Elon Musk.
The entrepreneur, also boss of Tesla and owner of the social network with the government.
On the contrary, he intends to use his proximity to the future president to carry out his project of “colonizing Mars” thanks to Starship. During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to go to “Mars before the end of (his) mandate”.
Before flying to the Red Planet, this megarocket should initially allow NASA to send its astronauts back to the surface of the Moon.
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