Starship Flight 15 did what no rocket had done before. Lifted off from Starbase, went into orbit, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. It circled the Earth 14 times, remained in the Earth’s orbit for about 22 hours, then came back and landed on the same tower from where it had flown. That means chopstick arms caught him. This is a complete round trip. Going from launch to orbit and back to the same launch pad. The most difficult part was the return of the ship. Booster has been caught 3 times before. The ship returning to orbital speed, enduring re-entry, turning and coming to a halt in the air and coming to arms – this had never happened before. Booster failed, but mission not stopped SpaceX’s plan was a “double catch.” That means the boosters came back and so did the vehicles. But while returning to the booster, there was a technical problem. The controller removed it from the tower and diverted it towards the Gulf of Mexico, where it exploded. This was the V3 booster. SpaceX has captured the older version thrice, but this was the first attempt to capture V3. SpaceX’s Dan Hoot said: “Can’t say anything yet about why we weren’t able to bring it back, but getting the vehicle caught is the biggest victory. The most difficult thing was to get the vehicle back from orbit.” What will change from a full round trip 1. Spaceflight will now be like an airplane: Falcon 9 used to save only boosters. Starship saves the entire rocket. Do not throw away any part, do not pick it up from the sea. Land, fuel, then take off. SpaceX’s target is one launch a week by the first half of 2027. 2. Data centers in space now a reality: Musk’s plan is to have a network of up to 1 million satellites in orbit, which will serve as data centers for AI. The space is solar powered 24×7, cooling is free, no land-water-electricity permits are required. Starship can carry and return 100+ tons of cargo at a time. 3. Road to Moon and Mars opened: Landing on the Moon without crew in 2027, Starship is the only lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis program. Mars would have to be fueled in orbit, which would require dozens of launches. That is possible only with a fully reusable rocket. A new $100 billion launch site is being built in Louisiana.
Source link
[ad_3]
Daily Latest News