Today, SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft and rocket successfully reached low-Earth orbit for the first time and deployed the first batch of next-generation Starlink satellites. Despite an unplanned engine shutdown during flight, specialists managed to overcome the failure and implement the main objectives of the mission.
Today, SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft and rocket successfully reached low-Earth orbit for the first time and deployed the first batch of next-generation Starlink satellites. Despite an unplanned engine shutdown during flight, specialists managed to overcome the failure and implement the main objectives of the mission.
The 40-story system, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, launched from the Starbase spaceport in Texas on the Gulf Coast, Reuters reports .
After the separation of the stages, the Super Heavy booster made a controlled water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship itself continued its flight into space, where one of its three main engines turned off earlier than planned. Initially, SpaceX representatives announced the impossibility of reaching orbit, but after operational calculations by engineers, the engine was turned on again, which successfully brought the device to the calculated orbit.
At an altitude of about 269 km, Starship began deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites one by one. These next-generation devices are capable of transmitting 10 times more data than the previous V2 Mini versions, which were previously launched using Falcon 9 rockets.
The test flight was the 14th and longest for the system — the ship is to make six orbits around the Earth over 10 hours, after which it is planned to splash down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
Despite its test status, the flight was the first to deploy a real commercial payload worth hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue for the Starlink division.
Elon Musk plans to begin regular Starship operations by the end of this year, which will allow for the launch of up to 60 V3 satellites in a single launch.
Starship's success is crucial to SpaceX's business, which has reached a $2 trillion valuation since going public. The reusable system also plays a key role in NASA's Artemis lunar program and future missions to Mars.
