SpaceX Starship successful in fourth test launch

SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever built, launched Thursday and achieved key objectives laid out for its fourth test flight that demonstrated the vehicle’s reusability. The highly anticipated event was the company’s second unmanned test of 2024.

Launch occurred from the private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, the United States, at 7:50 a.m. local time, and the company streamed live coverage on X, formerly known as Twitter, drawing millions of viewers.

The Starship launch system includes the upper Starship spacecraft and a rocket booster known as the Super Heavy. Of the rocket’s 33 engines, 32 lit during launch, according to the SpaceX broadcast.

The vehicle soared through multiple milestones during Thursday’s test flight, including the survival of the Starship capsule upon reentry during peak heating in Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown of both the capsule and booster.

After separating from the spacecraft, the Super Heavy booster for the first time successfully executed a landing burn and had a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about eight minutes after launch.

Meanwhile, the Starship capsule successfully achieved orbital insertion. About 50 minutes after launch, the spacecraft began its controlled reentry journey, and an incredibly colorful buildup of plasma could be seen around the vehicle as its heat shield faced the extreme temperatures of Earth’s atmosphere.

The company’s Starlink satellites helped facilitate a livestream that was continuously available during reentry. A flap near the camera view on Starship appeared to scorch during reentry and particulate matter blocked some of the view of the camera.

But in the end, there was enough of a view to see Starship achieve its expected landing burn into the Indian Ocean.

“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean! Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic achievement!!” posted SpaceX founder and CEO Musk on X.

The Starship spacecraft is coated in about 18,000 lightweight, ceramic hexagonal tiles, which are designed to protect the vehicle during reentry.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson also took to X to share a post celebrating the flight.

“Congratulations @SpaceX on Starship’s successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis — then looking onward to Mars,” Nelson posted.

The flight test comes two days after the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, gave SpaceX its approval.

And the test is occurring one day after SpaceX’s competitor under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, Boeing, successfully launched the first crewed mission of Starliner, which is carrying two veteran NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

Each of Starship’s test flights have different objectives that build on lessons learned and milestones achieved during the previous flight.

The Starship team made software and hardware upgrades to the launch system to incorporate lessons learned from the third flight.

“The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon,” according to SpaceX.

“We’re continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

For Thursday’s flight, SpaceX implemented upgrades and hardware and software changes to help the booster engines light, and additional thrusters were added to Starship to prevent it from experiencing any unplanned rolling, which also occurred during the third flight.

Much is riding on Starship’s eventual success. SpaceX CEO Musk has repeatedly characterized the rocket as central to the company’s founding mission: putting humans on Mars for the first time. (SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn

相关词汇

【直播】zhíbō

stream live

broadcast an event on the internet as it happens

【溅落】 jiànluò

designer breed

splashdown

a landing by a spacecraft in the sea

有史以来最强大的运载火箭，美国太空探索技术公司的星舰周四发射升空，实现了第四次试飞的主要目标，证明该运载火箭可重复使用。

这次备受瞩目的发射是该公司今年第二次非载人测试。

当地时间上午7时50分，星舰从位于美国得克萨斯州博卡奇卡的基地发射升空。该公司在X网站（前身为Twitter）上进行了直播，吸引了数百万观众。

发射系统包括底部的“超级重型”助推器和顶部的星舰飞船。根据 SpaceX 的直播，火箭的33个引擎中32个在发射过程中成功启动。

在周四的试飞中，星舰完成多个里程碑，包括飞船太空舱重返地球大气层时经受住高温烧灼，以及飞船和助推器在海里软着陆。

助推器与飞船分离后，成功执行反向推进，发射约八分钟后在墨西哥湾溅落。

与此同时，星舰飞船成功进入轨道。发射约50分钟后，飞船按计划再次进入大气层，由于其外表覆盖的陶瓷隔热瓦片遇到地球大气层时的极度高温，在飞船周围可以看到色彩斑斓的等离子体。

该公司的星际链路卫星为飞船在重返大气层期间持续提供现场直播提供了便利。重返大气层时，星舰摄像头附近的一块挡板似乎烧焦了，微粒挡住了摄像头的部分视线。

但最终，还是足够清晰地看到星舰如预期在印度洋溅落。

SpaceX 创始人兼首席执行官埃隆•马斯克在 X 上写道：“尽管星舰丢失了很多瓦片，且襟翼受损，但还是一路成功返回并软着陆在海洋中！祝贺 @SpaceX 团队取得史诗般的成就！！”

星舰飞船表面覆盖了约18000 块轻质六角形陶瓷瓦片，这些瓦片的作用是在飞船重返大气层时保护飞船。

美国国家航空航天局局长比尔•尼尔森也在 X 上发文庆祝。

尼尔森发帖说：“恭喜@SpaceX 今天上午成功试飞星舰！我们离#Artemis计划将人类送回月球又近了一步，下一步展望火星。”

这次试飞的两天前，美国联邦航空管理局批准SpaceX进行商业火箭发射。而就在一天前，SpaceX在NASA 商业合作伙伴计划下的竞争对手波音公司也首次成功发射载人飞船Starliner，将两名NASA宇航员送到国际空间站。

星舰此前的每次试飞，在上一次试飞中吸取的经验教训和取得的阶段性成果的基础上，都设定了不同目标。

为了吸取第三次飞行的经验教训，星舰团队对发射系统进行了软件和硬件升级。

SpaceX表示：“星舰的第四次飞行旨在让我们快速接近火箭航天器可重复使用的未来。我们正继续研发改进星舰，将飞船置于实际飞行环境中，不断学习，为了建立一个完全可重复使用的星际运输系统，将乘员和货物运往地球轨道、月球、火星或者更远的地方。”

周四的飞行中，SpaceX对硬件和软件进行了升级改造，以帮助助推器引擎点火，并为星舰增加了额外的推进器，以防止它出现意外翻滚，这种情况在第三次试射中曾出现过。星舰最终能否成功关系重大。马斯克曾多次表示，星舰是公司创始使命的核心：它将首次送人类上火星。

(Translated by Debra)