It’s the day of the first flight of Starship: first test of the shuttle to the Moon (and Mars)

Here we are, the Federal Aviation Administration has given the go-ahead for the Starship’s first orbital flightwhich could take place as early as today, April 17, with a launch window opening at 2 pm Italian time, for 150 minutes. The spaceship that will bring humanity back to the surface of the Moon, the one that Elon Musk also conceived to colonize Mars, will take off powered by the most powerful rocket ever built: SpaceX’s Super Heavy Booster. For enthusiasts, e even for NASA, it’s a historic moment. Without Starship, in fact, the lander would be missing to descend on our satellite, even if, Musk himself underlined, it might not be an immediate success. On the contrary.

Since April 6, Starship has been stacked above the carrier on the take-off platform at Starbase of Boca Chica, Texas, a few meters from the sea. Mechazilla, the mechanical arm, lifted it and placed it at the head of the Super Heavy, now towering from a height of 120 meters. In reality, to light the guns of the 33 Raptor engines at the base, it was necessary to wait for the green light from the FAA, which arrived on Friday. The Maritime Authority of the United States has recently updated the bulletin of warnings that regulate navigation in the waters around the USA. For the days from 17 to 21, a warning is indicated in the gulf of Mexico: “Hazardous operations”. The motivation: “Rocket launching” and “Space debris”. Even the Federal Aviation Administration plans activities in Boca Chica for Starship Superheavy starting April 17.

The stages of flight: in Space and then at sea

The first orbital flight test in April, however, will not result in Starship completing a full circle around the Earth. According to the document released by the Federal Communication Commission, Starship will take off from Boca Chica and 170 seconds after taking off from the ground there will be super booster separation. The rocket will return in a controlled re-entry into the sea to test the landing systems, but is not expected to be reused. The ditching will take place approximately 30 kilometers off the Texas coast, just over 8 minutes after take-off. In the meantime, Starship will continue the journey flying over the Atlantic, Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific before meeting the same fate: in view of Hawaii, it should turn to direct the Raptor engines towards Earth and slow down the descent. The goal is to land in the sea about 100 kilometers northwest of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

There will be several other attempts, already this year, with hope (“an 80%,” Musk said) to reach orbit by the end of 2023. For this reason, new examples of Starships are being built at the Boca Chica Starbase (the one now on the launch pad is SN24) to launch again and again. Come to think of it, it is a titanic undertaking. Starship will be the lander of the Artemis III mission, scheduled for late 2025. She is aboard Musk’s spaceship that the next crew will descend to the surface of the Moon at the South Pole. With bated breath there are not only the engineers of SpaceX, but also the technicians (and administrators) of NASA, from Houston to Cape Canaveral, via Washington.

Debut super boosters

Starship, the second stage (the one that will host the astronauts) has already made some jumps: his cannot be considered an absolute baptism of the air. After some rather spectacular failures, which culminated in Hollywood explosions, the SN 15 landed two years ago without exploding. The Super Heavy Booster, on the other hand, never left the ground. So far it has fired 31 engines (two failed for different reasons) for a static fire test at half power. Now it will push them almost to the max. Starship and the Super Heavy will both be reusable craft. The second through an immediate return a few minutes after having completed its task, that is to push Starship up into orbit. The shuttle, on the other hand, is designed to be able to return to the atmosphere, and to be taken on the fly by the Mechazilla mechanical arm. But that won’t happen in this first test.

Elon Musk and SpaceX have accustomed us to a very empirical approach, when it comes to testing something new. Simplifying: it is launched and, if it explodes or deviates from the expected path (and therefore is detonated or disintegrated upon re-entry), all the data acquired are used to improve on the next launch. The tycoon himself admitted that the chances that the first launch of Starship is a success are “50%,” the same as failure. In a recent interview, however, he promised that we will not be disappointed: “I’m not saying it will go into orbit, but I guarantee it will be exciting, it won’t be boring.”

Artemis III: on the Moon in 2026

NASA understandably calls for Starship, as a lunar lander, to be rigorously tested before embarking the astronauts. Whether SpaceX will be able to deliver the vehicle to the American Space Agency to do so will depend precisely on these test flights. Meanwhile, in 2024, Artemis II will make the first crossing to the Moon, without landing, to test the astronaut transport system with the Orion spacecraft powered by the Space Launch System. In 2025 (it is the hope) with the Artemis III mission, “the first woman and the first black person” will descend on the surface of our satellite to the first time after 53 yearsthat is, since (it was 1972) the last expedition of the Apollo program returned to Earth.

By that date, SpaceX will have proven the reliability of its spacecraft, the ability to refuel in orbit from a twin tank loaded with fuel, of course to descend and ascend from the lunar surface and be able to dock with the Orion for transshipment of astronauts. This will have to happen on the outward journey: two people will pass from the NASA capsule to Starship for the moon landing. And on his return, with a new rendezvous and reunification with the two colleagues who remained in lunar orbit. In fact, Orion will bring everyone back to Earth. Starship, on the other hand, will sail away, entering a solitary orbit around the Sun.

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The first caravel to Mars

But Starship wasn’t just designed to serve as an elevator to go down to the moon and back up again. The power of its first stage, the Super Heavy, dwarfs that of the Saturn V, the carrier of the Apollo missions, and even the Space Launch System, the most powerful space rocket active at the moment. Starship has an exaggerated usable volume: 1000 cubic meters (Apollo’s command module was 3.9, Orion’s habitable space is 9 cubic meters), enough to accommodate dozens of astronauts. And with the refueling system in orbit, it can leave without fuel, saving a lot in terms of energy, and bring, according to figures released by SpaceX itself, up to 100 people to Mars. Or loads of 100 tons, always towards the Red Planet. It is with these numbers that Musk intends to organize caravans of pilgrims to populate a Martian colonyimagining thousands of people taking off towards this new new world, following a rhythm similar to a busy airport where men, satellites, probes and goods are launched and returned, from and to orbit, the Moon and Mars.

Yes because, beyond these futuristic aims of making us a multi-planetary species, which to tell the truth are still a long way off, there is also an eye on the wallet. The carrying capacity of Starship is something that no one else will be able to afford in the short term: in a reusable configuration it can carry loads of 150 tons into low orbit, that of the ISS and most satellites, which can become 250 without vector recovery. It means dozens of large satellites, hundreds of Starlink satellites or other similar mass constellations. This will open up a transport services market with a substantial monopoly, for certain segments, which is difficult to scratch. Just think of space tourism: Starship is already selling tickets for the second civilian flight around the Moon, after the sold out of the first, DearMoon, paid for by the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawawhich will bring with it a crew of 8 artists.

SpaceX has always aimed to do things big and, between one explosion and another, has shown that he knows how to do them, also giving America back access to autonomous space for its astronauts. The same cannot be said for another major space entrepreneur like Richard Branson, which with its Virgin Orbit wanted to activate a launch service for small satellites with a rocket that detaches from the belly of a Boeing. The company has declared bankruptcy on April 4, after the failure of the first commercial flight.