NEW DELHI: After a historic test flight of Starship last month, SpaceX on Thursday announced the sixth, aiming to launch on November 18.
During Starship’s fifth test flight in October, the Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the launch site and was caught by the “chopstick arms” and catch tower at Starbase.
For the next flight, the world's largest and most powerful rocket “aims to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online”, SpaceX said in a statement.
While it once again aims to return to the launch site for the catch, other objectives include “reigniting a ship Raptor engine while in space”. It also plans to test “a suite of heatshield experiments and manoeuvring changes for ship reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean”.
As the objectives were similar, the US Federal Aviation Administration approved both flights 5 and 6 at the same time in October.
The company is also expected to introduce several upgrades to the system, including more redundancy in the booster propulsion system, updated software controls, and other changes.
It will also "assess new secondary thermal protection materials” and remove heat shield tiles on both sides of the ship for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles.
Meanwhile, Starship’s upper stage will fly the same suborbital trajectory as the previous flight test, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean, said the company led by billionaire Elon Musk.
During its fourth test flight in June, SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean with the upper stage of Starship.
The 400-foot-tall Starship rocket along with the Heavy booster also aims to make “significant upgrades” to the ship, starting with flight 7. This includes redesigned flaps, larger propellant tanks, and the most up-to-date thermal protection.