SpaceX is waiting for approval for the third Starship flight test and its founder says that the company aims to fly at least 7 Starships through this year.
The company could launch the Starship test flight 3 this week but a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) license is pending.
Space enthusiasts sharing their views on social media site X about Starship’s flight tests. One of these quoted SpaceX and expects “Three launches in less than a year would be unprecedented for a new super heavy-lift rocket.”
This brings a reply from SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk who wrote that the company could fly “at least 6 more flights this year”. He probably excluding Starship 3 from this count which makes a total of 7 flights.
Is this possible?
SpaceX has already tested two flights in 2023. However, the past year was consumed by mishap investigations, system improvements, and design upgrades.
So, It primarily depends on the success of Starship flight test 3. The company has achieved launch pad clearance and hot-staging in the previous two tests and the third flight aims to achieve orbit without failing the launch vehicle.
This milestone will give SpaceX an early go for the Starship 4 launch or another months-long mishap investigation by the FAA.
These possibilities will allow the company to get fast shots at the launch opportunities.
Development Capacity
By the time of the second flight test, SpaceX already developed four additional second stages. It suggests that the company has increased its manufacturing capability for this large launch vehicle.
Source – X/Twitter
Super heavy booster on the other hand is reusable and could cover all of the missions within a year. Eventually, the success of Starship 3 is crucial to receiving fast launch approvals from the FAA.