SpaceX is ready for the sixth test of the giant Starship

SpaceX has been listed for the sixth test of its largest starship. que despegará mañana martes desde su base en Texas (EE. UU.) e It will try again to recover the first stage successfully. The largest rocket ever built will take off from the base of Elon Musk's company near the city of Boca Chica at 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT).

As with the successful fifth test last October 13, mission leaders planned to hold the craft's first stage, called Super Heavy, on the platform and Atrapará esta parte with the help of a “chopstick” crane. de la nave para facilitar su descenso.

This maneuver should take place seven minutes after liftoff and after the rocket fuel has launched the upper stage of the craft into orbit. If that doesn't work out as expected, mission engineers will conduct a controlled Americanization of the Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico. “The purpose of the next Starship flight test is to expand the capabilities of the ship y los propulsores, y acercarse a la reutilização de todo el sistema en línea,” the firm explained in a note.

The upper stage of the starship will also have the same suborbital trajectory, that is, it will not complete the orbit around the planet performed in the previous test (pero sí alcanza el espacio). However, on this occasion, directors plan to fire one of the six second-stage Raptor engines to test the craft's capabilities in a controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

In the sixth test, SpaceX will have a series of tests It will conduct experiments with the ship's thermal shield and test new maneuvers while returning to the Indian Ocean. Initially predictable within 65 minutes. Given that the 30-minute launch window will open in the evening, the ship will reach the Indian Ocean while it is still daylight, providing “better conditions for visual observations,” as the firm notes. .

En un mensaje en su cuenta oficial en X, que compañó con fotos del hete de unas 5,000 tons peso posado de forma vertical en su plataforma de la nozzuo, la compañía signa el domingo que que completó successful “la prueba de carga delassssorbaciy” previas al bike”.

In the final test, the second stage was able to withstand extreme pressures and temperatures during re-entry into the atmosphere, and one hour after launch, it submerged in a controlled manner at a predetermined point in the Indian Ocean, although it was intended to explode.

Starship wants to be the first private service to the Moon and Mars and creating permanent presences and colonies on these planets, a vision reiterated and achievable by Elon Musk, who will be in front of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the next administration of US President-elect Donald Trump , in English).

Record the certificates NASAThe starship will form part of the Artemis III mission, expected to return the first crew to the lunar surface in more than half a century, in 2026.