SpaceX quickens the pace to carry out the third launch of the Starship. Elon Musk’s aerospace company confirmed that it is awaiting approval from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to complete it.
However, the wait may not be too long. According to confirmed Jessica Jensen, vice president of operations and customer integration at SpaceX, the approval of the authorities would arrive in February. Therefore, the next Starship launch could occur that same month.
Of course, none of this is set in stone and can change from one moment to the next. The SpaceX executive indicated that Starship would be ready to fly in Januaryonce engineers finish applying the necessary “corrective actions” that were identified after last November’s launch, which ended in an explosion.
For now, the company did not provide details about what caused the destruction of the second Starship before it reached Earth orbit. Unlike what happened in the first takeoff in April 2023, the Starship was able to separate from the Super Heavy rocket successfully. But the booster exploded shortly after and forced the ship to be destroyed moments later, before reaching the desired height.
Since then, SpaceX has worked at great speed to get everything ready for a third launch. In December there were static propulsion tests both with the Starship ship and the Super Heavy rocket. What is not yet known is the caliber of the modifications that have had to be implemented.
SpaceX aims to launch third Starship in February
Between the first and second launch of the Starship, SpaceX carried out more than 1,000 modifications both to the ship of the same name and to the booster. Among many, the implementation of a “hot” separation method, which consists of turning on the engines of the upper stage moments before decoupling it from the Super Heavy rocket.
Elon Musk said at the time that he estimated that, at best, the second attempt would have a 60% chance of reaching Earth orbit, which ultimately did not happen. For now, the magnate has not made a prediction about whether the Starship will achieve its goal on its third attempt. However, despite the fact that the two previous tests ended in total destruction, the evolution between one and the other has been more than evident. It is logical to think that expectations of success are higher for takeoff that could occur in February.
Getting approval from the FAA is not an easy task either. US authorities often identify critical failures whose resolution is mandatory to obtain a flight license. Therefore, if SpaceX does not meet all requirements, approval may be delayed.
It is worth saying that, looking at the history, SpaceX will surely try to fly the Starship as soon as it gets the thumbs up from the organization. For the second launch, for example, the FAA issued authorization on November 16 and Elon Musk’s team scheduled takeoff for the next day. Although they later had to postpone it to November 18, due to a technical failure. Of course, weather conditions must also be taken into account, which may end up affecting planning.
Likewise, the company is working on a demonstration of the cryogenic fuel transfer of the Starship, at the request of NASA. This technology, still in an early phase of development, will be crucial for Artemis missions that use a lunar landing module based on the SpaceX craft. Although it is still not clear if this test would be part of the third launch that would happen in February.