WASHINGTON — SpaceX is planning a more ambitious set of in-flight tests of its Starship vehicle on its next launch to demonstrate capabilities needed for launching satellites and going to the moon.
SpaceX said March 6 it was projecting a launch of Starship/Super Heavy vehicle on its third integrated test flight as soon as March 14. The company noted that date is pending regulatory approvals, although officials with the Federal Aviation Administration, which closed Feb. 26 the investigation into the second flight, said last month they expected to have an updated license ready in time to support a mid-March launch.
The third flight will follow a different profile than the first two, which called for Starship to complete nearly one orbit before reentering and splashing down near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff from the company’s Starbase complex in South Texas. Neither launch completed that profile, with the first Starship/Super Heavy vehicle destroyed a few minutes after liftoff in April 2023 and the second, in November 2023, suffering separate failures of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage.
The profile for the third flight projects a splashdown in the Indian Ocean nearly 65 minutes after liftoff. “This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety,” the company stated.
A firing of a Raptor engine while in space, which SpaceX has not attempted, is one of the new elements added to the upcoming launch. Another in-flight test added to the mission is opening and closing a payload bay door that would be used for future launches that deploy Starlink satellites.
SpaceX also confirmed it will perform a propellant transfer test on the flight, moving propellant from one tank to another within Starship. That test, supported by a NASA Tipping Point technology demonstration award, is a step towards future tests where one Starship vehicle will transfer methane and…
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