Liftoff Time |
November 19, 2024 – 22:00 UTC November 19, 2024 – 16:00 CST |
|---|---|
Mission Name |
Starship Flight 6 |
Launch Provider
|
SpaceX |
Customer
|
SpaceX |
Rocket |
Starship B13-1 and S31-1 |
Launch Location |
Orbital Launch Pad A (OLP-A), Starbase, Texas |
Payload mass |
There is no payload |
Where are the satellites going? |
Starship will follow a sub-orbital trajectory |
Where will the first stage land? |
B13 will be recovered on OLP-A Catch Tower (Mechazilla); S31 will attempt a soft landing on the ocean surface |
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings? |
There are no fairings on this vehicle |
This will be the |
– Fastest turnaround of OLP-A to date at 37 days, 9 hours, and 35 minutes. Previous record: 83 days, 23 hours, and 25 minutes |
What’s This All Mean?
SpaceX will launch its Starship rocket from Texas for the sixth time. Lifting off from Orbital Launch Mount A at Starbase, this flight will evaluate key upgrades to both the ship, which will attempt a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, and the booster, which the OLP-A tower will catch. These changes include higher structural integrity of the booster, better propellant offload procedures, and fewer TPS tiles.
Starship/Super Heavy
For the past seven years, SpaceX has been developing its facility in Boca Chica, Texas. They have dubbed it “Starbase” and it contains tents, bays of various heights and widths, as well as all the infrastructure to produce the world’s largest and most powerful rocket.
The full stack consists of two vehicles, each with different jobs relating to the launch process. On the bottom is the booster, also known as Super Heavy, which makes up about 58% of the full stack. The orbital ship rests on top of the booster to enable easy separation during staging.
The Booster
The booster, or bottom part of the rocket, is powered by 33 Raptor 2 engines formed in a series of rings, and stands 69 m (230 ft) tall. To fuel all 33 engines, the booster uses a liquid oxygen (LOx) tank and a methane (CH4) tank on the bottom and top, respectively. The booster is fueled by the Booster Quick Disconnect (BQD) which is located on the Orbital Launch Table and connects to the booster near the bottom.
Shortly before the booster experiences first motion, the BQD retracts and a protective door rapidly shuts in order to prevent the connections from getting blasted by rocket engine exhaust. Near the bottom of the booster are four elongated triangular chines. Each of these contain Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs). The COPVs provide helium and other gasses for engine start up and other functions on the booster. The square trapezoidal pyramids mainly contain electronics units.
On the top of the booster are four grid fins which provide control during booster descent through the atmosphere. These work similarly on the Falcon 9, however, are much larger on Super Heavy. On top of the grid fins is a hot staging ring, where the ship is mounted.
All 33 sea-level Raptor 2 engines are arranged in three clusters or rings. The three inside engines form a triangle and have the ability to gimbal. The next ring contains 10 engines which also can gimbal. Finally, the outer ring contains the remaining 20 engines that cannot gimbal.
During hot staging, only the three center engines stay ignited. After staging is completed, the inner ring of engines relight to assist with the boost back burn.
The Ship
Starship, or the top part of the rocket, is powered by three sea-level Raptor 2 engines, and three vacuum-optimized Raptor 2 engines, standing an overall 50 m (160 ft) tall. The three vacuum-optimized engines have elongated bells to adapt to the lack of air pressure in space. To learn more about Raptor engine development, check out Everyday Astronaut’s video “How SpaceX Is Upgrading Raptor To Be The Ultimate Rocket Engine!“
On the bottom of the ship is a skirt that encloses the engines and provides a structural element for the booster and ship to connect. Unlike the Falcon 9, the interstage section on Starship is on the ship and the top of the booster is the hot staging ring. During stage separation, all six Raptor engines on Starship will ignite, pushing the vehicle away from the booster. This is possible because of the addition of a hot stage ring that allows the exhaust from Starship’s engines to expand outwards.
The bigger of the two sets of flaps, the aft flaps can work in conjunction with the three center-mounted sea-level engines which gimbal, to orient the ship during entry, descent, and landing. On the top of the ship, are the slightly smaller forward flaps that also aid in ship orientation during entry, descent, and landing.
About two-thirds of the way up the vehicle is the payload bay. Designed for Starlink satellites, a narrow door deploys one satellite at a time. Sometimes called the “PEZ dispenser,” named after the popular candy, the internal structure of the payload bay is specially designed to deploy Starlink satellites in this manner.
Prelaunch Timeline
| Hr/Min/Sec | Event |
|---|---|
| 01:15:00 | SpaceX Flight Director conducts poll and verifies GO for propellant load |
| 00:49:50 | Ship fuel (liquid methane) load underway |
| 00:49:21 | Ship LOX (liquid oxygen) load underway |
| 00:41:15 | Booster fuel load underway |
| 00:35:39 | Booster LOX load underway |
| 00:19:40 | Raptor begins engine chill on booster and ship |
| 00:03:20 | Ship propellant load complete |
| 00:02:50 | Booster propellant load complete |
| 00:00:30 | SpaceX flight director verifies GO for launch |
| 00:00:10 | Flame deflector activation |
| 00:00:03 | Raptor ignition sequence begins |
| 00:00:00 | Excitement guaranteed |
Post Launch Timeline
| Hr/Min/Sec (approximate) | Event |
|---|---|
| 00:00:02 | Liftoff |
| 00:01:02 | Max Q (moment of peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket) |
| 00:02:32 | Super Heavy MECO (most engines cut off) |
| 00:02:39 | Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation) |
| 00:02:44 | Super Heavy boostback burn startup |
| 00:03:38 | Super Heavy boostback burn shutdown |
| 00:03:40 | Hot-stage jettison |
| 00:06:25 | Super Heavy is transonic |
| 00:06:38 | Super Heavy landing burn start |
| 00:07:00 | Super Heavy landing burn shutdown and catch |
| 00:08:27 | Starship engine cutoff |
| 00:37:46 | Raptor in-space relight demo |
| 00:47:13 | Starship entry |
| 01:02:06 | Starship is transonic |
| 01:03:12 | Starship is subsonic |
| 01:04:56 | Landing flip |
| 01:05:01 | Landing burn |
| 01:05:24 | An exciting landing! |
I just want to thank your site for not always kissing up to SpaceX. I love their technology advances, but I hear a subtle but constant background noise which sounds like a slam on NASA. SpaceX is building on the shoulders of what came before: the Soviet advancements and the NASA responses, and those events paved the way for what is possible now. Yes, SpaceX is doing evolutionary stuff but it’s only because they can acknowledge that the initial (mundane?) tasks are possible and routine.
SpaceX has proven repeatedly that it can exceed expectation, while operating at record efficiency, resulting in unprecedented cost effectiveness.
From a business standpoint, this is very desirable, making them an attractive investment.
From a fanfare perspective, they’re more exciting to watch in action than anything outside of female oil wrestling.
Go SpaceX!
As I said before you and Marcus hause ,are the main dudes for spacex content.keep it going .