Last week, SpaceX announced plans to conduct the third test flight of its massive Starship launch vehicle on March 14. Now the date is fast approaching. Here’s what you need to know about this important deadline for Elon Musk’s company and the aerospace industry as a whole.
When is the release planned?
At the time of writing, the company has not revealed an official launch time. Meanwhile, I understand that the company is planning a live broadcast starting tomorrow at 12:30 PM (French time). Typically, Elon Musk’s company begins these broadcasts 30 minutes before the scheduled launch time. So we can infer that Starship is scheduled to lift off from the Boca Chica Starbase in South Texas at 1 PM on March 14th.
Can you push back?
On the other hand, the exact time of the countdown may change. Rocket operators periodically restart the process if they notice slight anomalies in the data collected while filling tanks and conditioning engines. If necessary, the launch can be slightly delayed if the launch window is wide enough. SpaceX has not announced a current launch window, but it has been ongoing. Between 20 minutes and 2 hours On the first two flights. If you don’t want to miss any important moments, it would be wise to watch the live stream for a few dozen minutes.
The latest news is that the company has yet to officially announce receipt of the prestigious FAA flight permit. So technically Starship is not authorized to fly yet. The fact that SpaceX has already announced the date suggests it is confident its military will receive the precious sesame seeds in time. However, if not, the flight may be postponed to a later date depending on the available launch windows.
“As always during development testing, the schedule remains dynamic and may evolve,” the company said.
How does the mission unfold?
Starship’s first two missions were scheduled to last 90 minutes, but both ended prematurely due to serious malfunctions. This third attempt should be a little shorter. The metal colossus should end its path in the ocean about 65 minutes after the flight, according to a draft mission manifest posted on the SpaceX website.
And it’s not just the timing that changes. This third flight program represents significant differences compared to the first two. First of all, the vehicle is no longer aimed at reaching the Pacific Ocean. Instead, it will target the Indian Ocean.
If SpaceX chose this modified trajectory, it would allow the company to conduct three additional tests beyond its primary goal. All this happens when the spacecraft is at the top of its orbit, between 200 and 230 kilometers above the surface, in conditions very close to what we call low Earth orbit.
About 12 minutes after launch, SpaceX will test the opening and closing of the cockpit that will hold the payload during future missions. Second, at T+24 minutes, the company wants to demonstrate a system that can transfer fuel from one tank to another. Finally, at 40 minutes, she wants to be the first in space to restart the Raptor engines, which were shut down at the end of the ascent at T+8 minutes. This testing of auxiliary systems saves time during further development.
After 50 minutes of flight, Starship will begin its descent and begin atmospheric re-entry. It will return below the speed of sound around T+1h03, one minute before it roars into the Indian Ocean. In fact, as with the first two test flights, SpaceX has no intention of performing a soft landing like it already did with the Falcon 9, and this prototype will be sacrificed on the altar of innovation.
What’s the problem?
The implications of this third mission are significant. Because if the first flight had mixed results, the second iteration was much better and SpaceX is closer to achieving its goal. Elon Musk even said that the vehicle would undoubtedly have reached the end of its orbit if it had included an actual payload instead of a bulk replacement that would lead directly to mission termination (see article).
So the company is expected to reach a turning point, and it knows it. In fact, significant delays have already accumulated in vehicle development, and future customers are starting to become anxious. This is especially true for NASA. Because Starship is one of the pillars of the main Artemis program.
That means SpaceX has no more room for error. It is essential to complete the first phase of suborbital testing once and for all to handle the rest of development..
Even if this mission goes perfectly, there is still a long way to go. The machine must then enter low Earth orbit and demonstrate its ability to perform a variety of maneuvers there. Finally, we need to move on to the most sensitive step. That means recovering the Super Heavy Boosters and the Starship itself for later reuse.
This is one of the biggest claims of this new generation vehicle. But the least we can say is that the work will be very delicate, even for a company that already has world-renowned experience in this field. Successful recovery of Falcon 9 is critical. Achieving that with such an impressively large rocket is quite another. The sooner the first phase is completed, the sooner SpaceX can address these new engineering challenges.
How to follow the third Starship flight in real time?
As always, the launch is expected to be broadcast live by SpaceX on two platforms: the company’s X (Twitter) account and its YouTube channel. In both cases, transmission is expected to begin around 12:30 PM on March 14th.
