SpaceX’s next Starship test launch could lift off as early as Nov. 17, pending regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies.
The potential launch from SpaceX’s Starbase test site at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville, Texas will mark the corporate’s second test flight of an orbital class Starship and Super Heavy booster — the biggest and strongest rocket ever built. SpaceX launched its first Starship test flight in April, however it exploded shortly after liftoff.
“Starship preparing to launch as early as November 17, pending final regulatory approval,” SpaceX wrote on X, formerly referred to as Twitter, late Friday (Nov. 10).
Related: Watching SpaceX launch Starship, the world’s largest rocket, was simply unreal (video)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added that whether or not Starship launches this month hinges on government approval for the test flight.
“Assuming regulatory approval,” Musk wrote on X in response to SpaceX’s announcement.
The Starship and Super Heavy launch system is the world’s tallest and strongest rocket. It stands nearly 400 feet tall (121 meters), has a touted lift capability of 165 tons (150 metric tons) and is designed to be fully reusable. SpaceX goals to make use of Starship as a workhorse heavy-lift launcher, in addition to for deep space missions and has already sold flights across the moon to space tourists. NASA also plans to make use of the Starship rocket to land Artemis 3 astronauts on the moon.
But first, Starship and its booster must prove they’re ready for orbital flight. That is where the upcoming test flight is available in.
SpaceX launched its first full Starship test flight on April 20, however the rocket suffered a stage separation failure, the lack of several of its 33 first-stage Raptor engines and other issues. Consequently, SpaceX intentionally detonated the rocket over the Gulf of Mexico a couple of minutes after liftoff.
For the upcoming test flight, SpaceX has modified the stage separation process to make use of a brand new hot-staging process wherein the upper stage will fire its engines while still attached to its Super Heavy first stage. SpaceX engineers have developed a brand new vent system for that process as well, which the corporate showed off in a recent video shared on X and YouTube.
The second flight will likely follow the identical plan as the primary test, with SpaceX launching toward a goal splashdown site off the coast of Hawaii to check reentry and landing techniques, while the Super Heavy booster makes a splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico.
“Starship’s first flight test provided quite a few lessons learned that directly contributed to several upgrades to each the vehicle and ground infrastructure to enhance the probability of success on future flights,” SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. “The second flight test will debut a hot-stage separation system and a brand new electronic Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system for Super Heavy Raptor engines, along with reinforcements to the pad foundation and a water-cooled steel flame deflector, amongst many other enhancements.”
SpaceX has built a brand new water deluge system to guard its orbital launch pad and the Starship rocket from the immense power of the first-stage booster’s 33 Raptor engines. Throughout the test flight on April 20, the booster’s engine plume carved an enormous crater beneath the launch pad, kicking up debris and chunks of concrete that fell back onto the Starbase facility and surrounding area.
That water deluge system is under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to grasp the environmental impact it could have on the animal and flowers living within the Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge surrounding SpaceX’s Starbase facility.
“The FAA is constant to work on the environmental review,” the agency wrote on Oct. 31 in an emailed statement. “As a part of its environmental review, the FAA is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on an updated Biological Assessment under the Endangered Species Act. The FAA and the USFWS must complete this consultation before the environmental review portion of the license evaluation is accomplished.”
SpaceX has launched a website for its Starship Second Flight Test, because it does for every mission, and can share a live webcast on the page on Nov. 17 — if the launch does indeed occur on that date — starting about half-hour before liftoff.