SpaceX’s subsequent check flight for its Starship rocket will attempt to attain a brand new milestone by deploying a batch of mock Starlink satellites.
The seventh Starship flight will mark the primary time the rocket conducts a “payload deployment check,” the corporate mentioned in a weblog submit on Friday.
“Whereas in house, Starship will deploy 10 Starlink simulators, comparable in measurement and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites, as the primary train of a satellite tv for pc deploy mission,” SpaceX wrote. “The Starlink simulators shall be on the identical suborbital trajectory as Starship, with splashdown focused within the Indian Ocean.”
If profitable, the deployment check will convey the corporate nearer to utilizing Starship for precise Starlink missions. SpaceX has designed Starship to hold its next-generation V3 satellites, which promise to convey gigabit web speeds to Starlink subscribers.
V3 satellites may weigh as much as 2,000 kilograms (4,409 kilos)—greater than 3 times the present V2 Mini Optimized satellites, which weigh 575kg. The objective is for every Starship flight to hold and ship 60 V3 satellites, enabling the corporate so as to add “60 Tbps of capability to the Starlink community” throughout every flight.
In Friday’s weblog submit, SpaceX additionally famous that the seventh Starship flight will “launch a brand new technology ship with vital upgrades” to spice up the car’s reliability and efficiency. This consists of redesigning the propulsion system and “a 25% enhance in propellant quantity” to assist the rocket fly longer missions.
The seventh check flight can even attempt to “catch” Starship’s reusable booster utilizing a touchdown pad. The corporate needed to cancel that maneuver through the sixth check flight in November.
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“The returning booster will decelerate from supersonic speeds, leading to audible sonic booms within the space across the touchdown zone,” the corporate warned. SpaceX may once more cancel catching the booster “if automated well being checks present unacceptable situations with Tremendous Heavy or the tower.” In such an occasion, the booster rocket will splash down within the Gulf of Mexico as a substitute.
As for when the check flight will happen, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that it’s scheduled to happen on Friday, Jan. 10, although dangerous climate may change issues. Final month, the corporate additionally secured clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct the flight.
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