During Elon Musk’s ‘successful’ test flight of “world’s most powerful rocket”, the Starship flew further and faster on Thursday, but got lost eventually as it attempted re-entry into the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, said SpaceX.
This was the third test flight of the Starship bearing Musk’s hope of colonizing Mars some day.
The rocket lifted from from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas at around 8:25 am today. It was telecasted live on social media platform X, also owned by Elon Musk.
Millions were glued to their screen to witness the test flight of SpaceX’s sleek mega rocket. The reason? It is vital National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) plans for landing astronauts on the Moon later this decade.
Following the flight test, NASA administrator Bill Nelson, in a post on X, wrote: “Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight!”
But is its failure in re-entry necessarily a bad thing?
No, it was not. SpaceX has adopted a rapid trial-and-error approach in order to accelerate development, and the strategy has brought it numerous successes in the past.
The company was able to meet many of its objectives from the past two tests.
In its third test launch, the fully stacked configuration of the Starship was SpaceX’s most ambitious one yet.
The objectives included opening and closing Starship’s payload door to test its ability to deliver satellites into orbit.
It hit a top speed of more than 26,000 kilometers per hour (16,000 mph) and achieved an altitude of more than 200 kilometers above sea level.
Starship flew halfway around the globe, then began its descent over the Indian Ocean, with engineers cheering as its heat shield composed of 18,000 hexagonal tiles glowed red hot.
But ground control stopped receiving signals and announcers declared the vessel “lost” before it could achieve its final goal of splashing down.
“Starship will make life multiplanetary,” Musk posted on X afterward, emphasizing the progress made.
(With AFP inputs)
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Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
