SpaceX successfully assembles a full 400ft Starship rocket using a trio of giant robot arms, ahead of an update on the future of the heavy lift launcher from Elon Musk tonight
- Elon Musk said SpaceX will give an update on its Starship rocket at 21:00 ET
- It is the first such update in three years and will take place from Boca Chica
- The massive Starship will be the most powerful rocket ever launched into orbit
- Deep-space vehicle will take humans back to the moon and possibly on to Mars
- Starship was due for first orbital launch in January but this was delayed to March
The massive 400ft Starship rocket has been assembled on a launch platform by SpaceX, ahead of an announcement on the future of the heavy lift launcher tonight.
Founder Elon Musk announced his plan to reveal details about the future of the massive, and fully re-usable spacecraft, starting at 21:00 ET, from Boca Chica, the home of the SpaceX Starship test facility in Texas.
It will be the first update on the vehicle in almost three years, and while details haven’t been revealed over what Musk will say, it will likely include details of the first orbital test launch for the next generation rocket.
Starship, which will return humans to the lunar surface and could one day ferry more than 100 people a time to Mars, is set to make its first orbital flight in March.
The latest development in Boca Chica saw the firm stack a two-stage Starship rocket – with the upper stage being lifted on to the Super Heavy booster using a trio of robotic arms attached to the 480ft launch tower.
This is only the second time the full Starship – the largest launch vehicle prototype ever produced – has been assembled.
Founder Elon Musk announced his plan to reveal details about the future of the massive, and fully re-usable spacecraft, starting at 21:00 ET, from Boca Chica, the home of the SpaceX Starship test facility in Texas
Starship, which will return humans to the lunar surface and could one day ferry more than 100 people a time to Mars, is set to make its first orbital flight in March
STARSHIP AND SUPER HEAVY LAUNCHER
SpaceX Starship is made up of two stages, the Super Heavy booster and the Starship vehicle on top.
Super Heavy fires and gives Starship the boost it needs to reach orbit.
Once in space, Starship separates and continues its journey, while Super Heavy returns to land on the ground.
It is designed to be a reusable launch vehicle that could put humans on Mars, according to founder Elon Musk.
Super Heavy
The first stage, or booster, of the next-generation launch system with a gross liftoff mass of over three million kg.
It uses sub-cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen (CH4/LOX) propellants.
The booster will return to land at the launch site on its six legs.
Height: 70m (230ft)
Diameter: 9m (30ft)
Starship
Starship is the fully reusable spacecraft and second stage of the Starship system.
It offers an integrated payload section and is capable of carrying passengers and cargo to Earth orbit, planetary destinations, and between destinations on Earth.
Height: 50m (160ft)
Diameter 9m (30ft)
Unlike the first time Starship was fully stacked, this time SpaceX had access to its massive launch tower.
This 480ft tower includes arms that can grapple Starship into place.
It lifted the upper stage 260ft off the ground and lowered it on top of the Super Heavy booster.
Eye witnesses said there were several days of troubleshooting and false-stars, as well as weeks of testing, before they lifted the 85 ton spacecraft.
Known as S20, this prototype was held for about an hour using two smaller stabilization arms.
Then late last night, with the tip of the nosecone just short of the top of the tower, the Mechazilla arm swung the upper stage 45 degrees, until it was above the booster.
Another arm, the quick-disconnect arm, swung in to stabilize Super Heavy, before the upper stage could be placed on top.
This is a significant achievement for the launch firm, taking just three hours from start of the lift, to having a fully mated rocket.
Musk will have this complete rocket as a backdrop when he makes his first formal update on the rocket since 2019.
The first update on Starship was in 2016, where Musk announced plans to build a giant rocket to send people to deep space and on to Mars.
During Musk’s last update in September 2019, he gave a presentation at Boca Chica standing in front of a full prototype of Starship.
Experts speculate that Musk will reveal details of an ambitious launch schedule for the fully stacked Starship, once the prototype has launched.
Work is already underway on Prototype 21 and 22, as well as future versions of the Super Heavy booster.
The vehicle is fully reusable and designed to launch on top of a giant booster called Super Heavy.
The combined system will stand 394ft (120m) tall and is also referred to as Starship.
So far, SpaceX has carried out a few high-altitude test flights with the vehicle but has yet to launch it into orbit.
The company was hoping to do so in January but is currently awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch Starship to orbit out of Boca Chica, which won’t be granted until March at the earliest.
Unlike the first time Starship was fully stacked, this time SpaceX had access to its massive launch tower
The FAA assessment is looking at environmental impacts of SpaceX’s initial mission profile and reviews debris recovery, local road closures in Boca Chica, Texas, where the firm’s launch site is located, and other issues.
The Starship program aims to develop vehicles for the interplanetary travel of cargo and humans to the moon, Mars and beyond.
To perfect the rockets, SpaceX plans to conduct several test launches over the next few years, all of which will require a permit or vehicle operator license from the FAA.
Although Musk seemed appreciative of the FAA’s timeline, the billionaire has not always been happy with the agency.
Elon Musk shared close up shots of the Starship upper stage being mated to Super Heavy
Starship requires the booster stage to reach orbit. When combined the two reach a whopping 394ft tall, larger than the Statue of Liberty and its full plinth
How other rockets compare: The fully reusable Starship will be able to carry a payload of more than 220,000lb into low Earth orbit, making it the largest rocket ever created
A year ago he slammed the FAA on Twitter for its rules regarding space launches that caused a delay in SpaceX launching its Starship Serial Number 9 (SN9) rocket.
‘Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure,’ Musk tweeted.
‘Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars.’
The FAA has stayed quiet while Musk airs his frustrations online, but the division told DailyMail.com in January last year: ‘We will continue working with SpaceX to resolve outstanding safety issues before we approve the next test flight.’
STARSHIP: ELON MUSK’S ‘BIG F***ING ROCKET’
The BFR (Big F***ing Rocket), now known as Starship, will complete all missions and is smaller than the ones Musk announced in 2016.
The SpaceX CEO said the rocket would take its first trip to the red planet in 2024, carrying only cargo, followed by a manned mission in 2026 and claimed other SpaceX’s products would be ‘cannibalised’ to pay for it.
The rocket would be partially reusable and capable of flight directly from Earth to Mars.
Once built, Musk believes the rocket could be used for travel on Earth — saying that passengers would be able to get anywhere in under an hour.
To date, the Starship series of rockets have seen 9 test flights — some resulting in successful short-distance hops, while others led to explosions or crash landings.
The most recent experimental launch — involving the Starship SN15 prototype — took place on May 5, 2021 and saw the craft complete a 33,000 feet high-altitude flight test into low-lying clouds, complete with successful ascent, engine cut-offs, flip manoeuvre, flap control and soft touchdown.
A small fire did erupt at the base of the rocket following its landing, but this was later extinguished.
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