Elon Musk reveals plan for next Starship mission

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Elon Musk has revealed the targets for the next Starship mission following one other profitable take a look at of the world’s largest rocket.

The SpaceX boss mentioned the next Starship launch, which is anticipated to happen in early May, will deal with bringing the craft again to Earth safely from orbit for the primary time.

On Wednesday, SpaceX accomplished a second static hearth take a look at of its newest Starship rocket at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

“Getting ready for Flight 4 of Starship,” Mr Musk posted on X, previously Twitter, on Wednesday.

“Goal of this mission is for Starship to get through max reentry heating with all systems functioning.”

The static hearth take a look at comes lower than two weeks after the final Starship mission, which noticed the rocket attain orbital velocity for the primary time earlier than breaking apart upon reentry to Earth’s environment.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief working officer, mentioned final week that the next launch try might happen within the “beginning part of May”, although no payload will probably be onboard.

The fourth main flight take a look at of the absolutely stacked Starship rocket system will as an alternative goal to resolve the problems that arose over the past mission.

Measuring 120 metres tall, and able to producing 7.5 million kilograms of thrust, Starship is the most important and strongest rocket system ever constructed.

The first business missions of SpaceX’s next-generation rocket will possible see it ship Starlink satellites into orbit, with Ms Shotwell saying this could occur earlier than then finish of the yr.

SpaceX additionally has a multi-billion greenback contract with Nasa to supply Starship rockets for the US house company’s Artemis program, which goals to return folks to the Moon throughout the next few years.

Beyond that, Mr Musk hopes to make use of a fleet of Starships to ferry crew and cargo throughout the Solar System to arrange a everlasting human colony on Mars.

Building a rocket that’s each dependable and reusable will probably be crucial to attaining these targets.