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News on April 20th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Elon Musk)’s space exploration technology company SpaceX has just ignited and launched a new generation of launch vehicle Starship (Starship), which is also its first orbital flight test, but there is no can succeed. At 21:35, the Starship blasted off from the SpaceX test site outside Brownsville, Texas, and then exploded in the air. SpaceX said the Starship and thrusters failed to separate.
On the evening of April 17, Starship announced a delay when the original scheduled launch time was approaching, citing a pressure valve that appeared to be frozen. At that time, Musk also posted that he “learned a lot and will come back in a few days.”
This launch mission is very important. It is not only related to Musk’s dream of Mars, but also affects the United States’ plan to return to the moon. According to the plan, about 8 minutes after the launch of Starship, its booster will crash into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft cabin will continue to fly until it reaches an altitude of about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers), and after a period of orbiting the earth, it will re-enter the atmosphere.
If all goes well, about 90 minutes after launch, the capsule will re-enter the atmosphere and crash into the Pacific Ocean about 62 miles (about 100 kilometers) north of the island of Kauai. While both boosters and capsules can be recovered and reused, SpaceX won’t do so this time around.
Reentry will test the spacecraft’s ability to maneuver aerodynamically, as well as its thermal insulation to withstand the intense friction it creates as it passes vertically through the atmosphere. Musk said: “The spacecraft will come like a meteor. This is also the first step in its long journey of many future flights. More boosters are already on standby at the launch site for future test flights.”
Starship is SpaceX’s new generation launch vehicle, with a total height of about 120 meters. It consists of a 70-meter-high super-heavy propeller equipped with 33 Raptor engines at the bottom, and a 50-meter-high reusable spacecraft cabin at the top. Its ultimate goal is to carry astronauts to the moon and Mars.
SpaceX has been developing starships since 2019 and has tested multiple prototypes, and this time is its first orbital flight test, aiming to provide SpaceX with a lot of valuable information to put the starship into operation as soon as possible .
According to SpaceX’s vision, the “starship” is a fully reusable transportation system that can transport astronauts and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and other places. The US “Space” website stated that the US “Saturn V” rocket used for the “Apollo” moon landing program during the Cold War was the US “Saturn V” rocket that maintained the title of “the largest launch vehicle for mankind”. It is about 111 meters high and can launch about 130 tons of effective rockets. The payload enters Earth orbit, delivering about 50 tons of payload to the Moon. NASA stated that the “Space Launch System” can send payloads of more than 27 tons into lunar orbit. In comparison, a fully reusable “Starship” has a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of about 150 tons. Without considering recovery, the payload of the “Starship” is as high as 250 tons to 300 tons.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk once said that unlike the “Saturn V” and “Space Launch System” which are specially used for manned landing on the moon, the “Starship” can execute the “Starlink” by virtue of its powerful carrying capacity and multi-purpose design. Satellite launches, delivery of astronauts and equipment to the moon and Mars, and more sci-fi alien colonization and space mining development.
Musk also claimed that the launch cost of the “starship” is quite low. Once the relevant tests are successful, large-scale production will be launched, and a space fleet composed of 1,000 “starships” will be built at a rate of 100 ships per year. Ship people and related materials to Mars, realize the dream of colonizing Mars from the late 2020s.
If the starship test is successful, the outside world believes that this will be an important milestone, marking a key step in Musk’s human migration to Mars plan.
Source: Comprehensive Daily Economic News, China Blue News, Kankan News, Sina News, Public Information
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