SpaceX
SpaceX could attempt the Starship catch in 2-3 months, says Musk
SpaceX Founder and CEO, Elon Musk, said that his rocket company could attempt to catch the Starship integrated flight’s upper stage in 2-3 months. Musk’s latest comment on this matter comes as the ship continues to face challenges on the test front.
The Starship program is currently in the development and test stage. It means that the past nine flights, including the recent are part of the test and not commercial liftoffs. Through continuous development, the rocket maker is gathering new data and making design upgrades.
Compared to the first stage, the ship has different tasks, and these are quite complicated. It has to carry a payload into orbit or beyond after completing a successful ascent burn. Then, it has to return to Earth, endure the high atmospheric heat, and achieve a safe landing for reusability.
Source – SpaceX
Similar to the booster, SpaceX planned to catch the ship as soon as it fires the landing burn. But Flight 7 has stretched the timeline to achieve this goal due to the next-gen upper stage, which has more power and better propellant capacity.
However, the ship couldn’t make it to orbit, which repeated during flight 8. During flight 9, the ship reached the reentry phase but once again experienced an anomaly and lost attitude control.
Importantly, SpaceX had completed the full ship journey with Test Flight 6, including a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean. At that time, it was pretty obvious that the company could attempt a catch somewhere in the first half of 2025. However, it is now running six months late due to the past three incomplete tests.
To attempt a Starship catch, SpaceX may need to run two full-duration ship launches, from coasting to reentry and splashdown. This will verify the ship’s health and maneuverability before it can land on the launch site. The whole plan of catching the ship and the booster is to reuse them after refueling. From Musk’s announcement, the attempt should come after Starship Flight Test 11.
