A new video from SpaceX gives us a glimpse into the future – the very near future, perhaps.
Late last week, Elon Musk’s company released a 60-second animation on X showing Super Heavy — the first stage of SpaceX’s new giant Starship rocket — returning to Earth after liftoff.
SpaceX has made rocket landings relatively routine, typically bringing back the first stages of its flagship Falcon 9 and its powerful Falcon Heavy vehicles. But the landing in the animation is different: It’s a mid-air capture performed by the wandlike arms of the massive launch tower at Starbase, SpaceX’s site in South Texas.
And that’s exactly what SpaceX plans to do with launches of the 400-foot-tall Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Bringing Super Heavy directly to the launch pad will allow SpaceX to refurbish and relaunch the vehicle much more efficiently, Musk said.
And we may not have to wait long to see the animation come to life.
“I think we should try to catch the thruster with the Mechazilla arms on the next flight!” Elon Musk said via X on June 6, shortly after Starship’s fourth test flight. (“Mechazilla” is the nickname he gave to the Starbase launch tower.)
SpaceX is taking steps to make that happen. On June 27, the company posted a short video on X of the rod-like arms closing around a stationary Super Heavy on the launch pad.
“The Starbase team is testing the tower wands for the upcoming Super Heavy booster capture,” SpaceX wrote in a description of the video.
Related: SpaceX’s Fourth Starship Test Flight Looks Epic in These Stunning Photos
The Starship’s four test flights so far have taken place in April and November 2023, as well as on March 18 and June 6 of this year. The vehicle has performed better with each successive mission.
For example, Starship’s two stages failed to separate on the first flight, which lasted less than four minutes. But on the most recent mission, Super Heavy and the upper stage, known as Starship or simply Ship, accomplished their primary objectives, returning to Earth to splash down in the desired areas.
SpaceX is developing Starship to carry passengers and cargo to far-flung destinations like the moon and Mars. Both Super Heavy and Ship are designed to be rapidly reusable, an advancement that Elon Musk says will revolutionize spaceflight.
Starship already has a lunar mission on its schedule. NASA has selected the stainless steel vehicle to be the first crewed lander in its Artemis lunar program. If all goes according to plan, Starship will land astronauts near the moon’s south pole on the Artemis 3 mission in late 2025.
News Source : www.space.com
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