The headline could be another: ‘This time yes’. Or: ‘He has not exploded!’ But it would not alter the reality of the double milestone that the company Space X, of the magnate Elon Musk, has just achieved this morning, with the tenth test flight of the latest generation of its spacecraft, the. This has taken successfully, on the back of the new generation of rockets, the Super Heavy, and has merited on its return, after unfolding a constellation of eight simulated Starlink satellites.
But not just that. The mission has a double meaning, also in commercial and brand terms, because the success harvested by Space X arrives after months marked by a series of errors, which had made doubts sprout about one of its biggest projects -reusable spatial noves. Who is called to be heir to the program Apollothat is, the ship that NASA has chosen to take its new generation of astronauts to step on lunar dust.
The tenth flight test had several key objectives within the framework of this development phase that is over. First, the successful simulation of satellite deployment, but the new hexagonal plates of thermal shield were also tested, aimed at reducing, perhaps, one of the biggest challenges faced by engineers and aerospace agencies in terms of profitability.
Profitability? Indeed, Space X proposes rockets and reusable ships after each mission and that means not having to make repairs – or minimizing – in the armor of a ship that re -enters the earth’s atmosphere with very high friction levels. “There are thousands of engineering challenges ahead, both for the ship and for the propeller, but perhaps the largest is the reusable orbital thermal shield,” Elon Musk himself acknowledged.
Moment when the Starship performs its tenth test flight using the new Super Heavy rocket, in the Space X Starbase (Texas, USA).
Deployment of eight Starlink and ameter satellites
In this sense, the Starship has taken off this morning from the Starbase -concluded at 1.30 hours in Spain -the facilities of Space X in southeast Texas. It was a huge system 127 meters high composed of the spacecraft itself on the tip, mounted on the super heavy. After taking off, and a period of about seven minutes, the rocket separated by placing the starship in space.
The propeller fell, in a controlled operation, on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Nor is it casual, because it was tried to demonstrate that they work alternatives to return from the rocket to the usual, re -fitting on the launch platform. Meanwhile, and after half an hour of flight, the Starship proceeded to the deployment of the eight false Starlink satellites through the new ‘fish’ system. After about an hour of mission, the ship returned to the earth re -entereding at supersonic speed -a fire, literal, for the new thermal shield.
The mission was completed with a spareness in the waters of the Indian, after making a constant vertical landing, guided by motor, on the surface of the ocean west of Australia. Without a doubt, already judging by the constant cheers that are heard from the control room in Texas, it is a before and after for Space X, which had been harvesting critical explosions and errors in very early phases -for example, one of the most catastrophic failures took place in a routine engine ignition test.
What comes now?: Towards the Artemis III program
While the true bar that has been placed long -term Musk passes because these ships become the system to send humans to Mars, the reality is that in the medium term its future goes through the Artemis III program. This is the NASA missions series that, on the 2027 horizon, hope to perform the first of manned in this new space race stage.
In the words of NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, what happened today brings the agency to the dream of getting a regular round trip with the lunar satellite: “The success of flight 10 paves the way for the Starship human landing system that will bring US astronauts back to the moon in Artemis III”.
But what does it remain until then? The reality is that despite the achievements that Space X has been reaping, there are still very large fringes to cut. Specifically, there are two monumental challenges to make the space program viable. The first is the second part of what happened on Earth, that is, that it is really viable and surely land on the lunar surface. And the second is to achieve the possibility of carrying out fuel replenishment processes in the space itself.