Trump's new darling Starship megarocket ready for 6th test flight

A sixth test of the Starship megarocket is scheduled for Tuesday in the United States and SpaceX will again attempt to catch the first stage using mechanical arms, a maneuver that impressed even President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to be present.

Elon Musk's company must demonstrate that this was not a stroke of luck in October, but rather a decisive feat towards the reuse of this heavy launcher after each flight.

This strategy aims to be able to launch more vehicles more quickly, and for much less money than if it were necessary to use new equipment each time.

SpaceX aims to use Starship – the world's largest and most powerful rocket – to colonize Mars. The ship's development is also being closely monitored by NASA, which is counting on it to return its astronauts to the surface of the Moon.

During the latest test, the rocket gained a new admirer in Donald Trump. In his victory speech on election night, he described watching the flight as “like a movie.”

The Starship megarocket at Starbase, Texas, on November 17, 2024 © AFP – CHANDAN KHANNA

“I called Elon. I said: Elon, you were the one? He said yes. I said: who else can do this? Can Russia do it? No. Can China do it? No. Can the United States do it but you? No,” the president-elect recounted.

“I said: this is why I love you, Elon, this is great.”

The SpaceX boss spent tens of millions of dollars to support the Republican's campaign, and in exchange landed an advisory position — ignoring possible conflicts of interest, as SpaceX has numerous ongoing contracts with the U.S. government.

– Splashdown in daylight –

The sixth flight is scheduled to take off at 4:00 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT) from the company's Starbase space base in the far south of Texas.

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The objectives will be largely similar to the previous test.

The rocket is composed of the first stage Super Heavy (70 meters high) and, above, the Starship (50 m), which by extension gives its name to the entire launcher.

After having propelled the ship, Super Heavy detaches from it and begins its descent. In October, rather than ending its course in the sea as in the past, it had succeeded in an unprecedented maneuver: returning to its launch pad.

Just before touching the ground, mechanical arms installed on the launch tower, nicknamed “the chopsticks”, closed on it and immobilized it.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket takes off from Starbase, Texas, on October 13, 2024, for its 5th test © AFP – SERGIO FLORES

For its part, the ship Starship continued its flight until it splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

The same choreography is on the agenda for Tuesday, with a daytime splashdown for the ship, to facilitate visual observations. Tests on the heat shield are also planned.

– Mars in 2 years? –

All these flights represent real challenges for a craft of this size. Several of the first tests had ended in explosions.

And in a video published in late October by Elon Musk, showing him playing a video game, a man debriefing the fifth test in the background describes how SpaceX was “one second” away from ordering the rocket to crash next to the launch tower.

The development of Starship is being carried out at a rapid pace by the company, launching prototypes without cargo, in order to quickly correct problems encountered in real flight situations.

“The first Starships to Mars will take off in two years,” Elon Musk recently said. “These flights will be unmanned in order to test the reliability of an intact landing on Mars.”

“If these landings go well, the first crewed flights to Mars will take place in four years,” added the boss, known for his very optimistic predictions.

Donald Trump has said he wants to send such missions to Mars before the end of his term.

For his new space acolyte, the ultimate goal is to build on the red planet “a self-sufficient city, within 20 years”.

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