Starship's Final Flight: A Data-Driven Launch
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What Exactly Happened On Starship's Sixth Launch Attempt?
TheSpaceBucket
Nov 20, 2024
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Science & Technology
Intro
- The sixth Starship launch occurred 37 days after the previous one, marking a significant event as it was the last flight of the V1 Starship.
- To maximize data collection before transitioning to the V2 model, the company implemented several final changes to the flight profile and the vehicle.
- These changes included a more aggressive booster catch attempt, which aimed to improve the recovery process of the booster stage.
- The re-entry of the ship was made steeper, resulting in a hotter descent, to test the vehicle's thermal protection capabilities under more extreme conditions.
- A raptor engine relight was conducted in space, which is crucial for testing the engine's reliability and performance in the vacuum of space.
Flight Test 6
- The sixth Starship flight test occurred in the late afternoon, unlike previous early morning launches, marking the last V1 Starship flight before transitioning to V2.
- The launch proceeded smoothly with all 33 Raptor engines firing as expected, and the vehicle passed through Max Q, the point of maximum mechanical stress.
- At T+2:30, most engines cut off, and hot staging occurred, where the ship ignited its engines while still attached to the booster, which then separated.
- The booster attempted a return to the launch site but was diverted to a water landing due to unmet criteria for a catch, demonstrating a successful abort and soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The ship continued its mission, performing a Raptor relight in space, a first for the Starship program, to test technology for future orbital missions.
- During re-entry, the ship faced peak heating, with some burn-through observed on the flaps, but it successfully cooled down and slowed to a safe speed.
- The ship executed a more aggressive re-entry angle than usual, aiming to gather data for future catch attempts, and successfully touched down in the water.
- This test flight was crucial for understanding the vehicle's limits and will inform future upgrades and missions, as it was the last flight of the V1 Starship.
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