Juno Flies Past the Moon Ganymede and Jupiter
With Music by Vangelis NASA
It's
a Whole New Outer Space Out There
SpaceX Flies and Lands Starship
Prototype
SpaceX
is developing a fully reusable, rapid
turnaround (hours), two-stage, heavy
lift rocket system. The upper stage is called
Starship
and the first stage is the Super Heavy
Booster. A vehicle factory and launch
facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas near
Brownsville has been producing and test
flying a series of prototype Starships.
These prototypes, none of which are yet
intended to reach space, are testing the
many technologies and techniques needed
for a practical transport. Up till the SN15
vehicle, the flights had successfully demonstrated
a number of these features except for landing,
which requires a flip from horizontal to
vertical orientation. Various problems with
the propulsion system had failed to do the
flip properly and the prototypes were destroyed
on landing - until the SN15 flight. Here
is SpaceX's statement about the SN15 flight:
On Wednesday, May 5, Starship serial
number 15 (SN15) successfully completed
SpaceX’s fifth high-altitude flight test
of a Starship prototype from Starbase
in Texas.
Similar to previous high-altitude flight
tests of Starship, SN15 was powered through
ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting
down in sequence prior to the vehicle
reaching apogee – approximately 10 km
in altitude. SN15 performed a propellant
transition to the internal header tanks,
which hold landing propellant, before
reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled
aerodynamic descent.
The Starship prototype descended under
active aerodynamic control, accomplished
by independent movement of two forward
and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All
four flaps were actuated by an onboard
flight computer to control Starship’s
attitude during flight and enabled precise
landing at the intended location. SN15’s
Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle
performed the landing flip maneuver immediately
before touching down for a nominal landing
on the pad.
These test flights of Starship are
all about improving our understanding
and development of a fully reusable transportation
system designed to carry both crew and
cargo on long-duration interplanetary
flights, and help humanity return to the
Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond. Congratulations
to the entire SpaceX team on SN15’s successful
flight and landing!
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3D Solar System & Space Missions Simulator from BINARY SPACE
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