YouTube channel Cosmic Perspective has released a video of the recent (very dramatic!) Atmospheric flight tests of the Starship SN10 – available in 4K quality and more importantly, it’s a slow-motion video. That is, the shooting was carried out with high-speed cameras from several angles, so that you can once again relive this important event and consider the landing (and explosion) in detail.
Here’s the video:
On March 4, SpaceX successfully landed a full-size (50-meter!) Prototype of the future interplanetary spacecraft for the first time. He reached a climax of 10 km, turned off the engines and began a controlled descent down the side with the help of aerodynamic rudders, which eventually successfully completed a belly flop maneuver with a tail down turn and subsequent landing.
True, the landing itself was harsh – after contact with the ground, the device even bounced a little and tilted. About 10 minutes after landing, a large explosion was heard (presumably, it was caused by a leak of fuel (methane and oxygen) due to damage to the structure).
In January, SN9 flew on the same program, with the only difference that it failed to maneuver into the vertical before landing.
SpaceX already has the next prototype Starship SN11, whose tests will begin in the very near future. In addition, the team in Boca Chica has already almost completed the assembly of Starship SN15, in which, as Elon Musk previously said , several major updates are planned, and began assembling the second prototype of the Super Heavy booster. The first one must make the first jump in the very near future.
The Super Heavy rocket is a reusable first stage for launching Starship into space. According to the updated plan , the Super Heavy (70 meters high and 9 meters in diameter) will receive 28 Raptor engines capable of delivering more than ~ 7,300 metric tons (~ 16.2 million lbf) thrust at launch and carrying a Starship with a mass of about 1,400 into orbit. tons. The maximum weight of SuperHeavy and Starship with fuel and payload is about 5,000 tons.
Ultimately, Super Heavy may not receive landing legs, but use a different landing technology – at the end of 2020, Elon Musk spoke about the idea of catching Super Heavy in the air with an arrow of a launch tower.
SpaceX expects to conduct a full-fledged Starship orbital launch this year, and the first manned Starship mission is planned for 2023 – a tourist delegation led by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will travel around the moon.