Tech billionaire, Elon Musk has unveiled fresh information regarding SpaceX’s Mars-bound Starship rocket, which he believes is ready to launch.
SpaceX is still waiting for FAA authorisation to launch the largest rocket ever built, with US officials currently conducting a “mishap investigation” into the previous Starship launch in April.
The 400-foot-tall (121-metre) rocket detonated three minutes into a scheduled 90-minute flight over the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, splitting up into pieces above the water.
An inadequate launchpad was also destroyed by Starship’s huge engines, blasting concrete chunks and metal shards across a 700-acre area.
The SpaceX boss had predicted that the rocket would explode, saying ahead of the attempt: “I am not saying it will get to orbit but I am guaranteeing excitement.”
The tech billionaire is more hopeful for the latest launch attempt, having made several key changes to how it operates.
“We are doing a new staging technique called hot staging where you light the upper stage engines while the booster stage is still firing,” Mr Musk told the All-In Podcast this week.
This is the most efficient way to do stage separation of a rocket going to orbit but we did not try that on the last mission… I think, I hope, we have a well over 50 per cent chance of getting through stage separation, and maybe a close to 50 per cent chance of getting to orbit if the hot staging separation method works.
Once in orbit, Starship will circle the globe before crashing into the Pacific Ocean just north of Hawaii.
The Starship rocket is currently completely stacked at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, but it is unclear how long the private space company will have to wait for FAA certification.
“The investigation into the SpaceX Starship mishap remains open,” the FAA stated in a statement last week.
“The FAA will not authorise another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all regulatory requirements of the license.
