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On the same day that its Starbase general manager Kathy Leuders speculated that SpaceX might not move forward with the highly risky tower catch of the Starship rocket on the upcoming test flight, the firm has shared fresh footage of its catch tests. SpaceX has been clamping down its tower arms, called chopsticks, around a portion of a Super Heavy booster to evaluate the system's parameters for a real life test attempt. Its footage, shared moments back, shows one of the clamp arms repeatedly closing in on the rocket section while the other arm remains mostly static.
SpaceX Confirms Starship Tower Catch Test In Texas
SpaceX's fourth Starship test flight, which took place at the start of the month, was the most successful test to date. It marked the fourth flight of the 233 feet tall Super Heavy booster and marked the first time that the rocket successfully splashed down in the water. At the same time, it also marked the first time that the second stage Starship survived atmospheric reentry, giving SpaceX engineers the confidence to fine tune their ship design.
Staying true to his firm's rapid testing pace, SpaceX chief Elon Musk announced immediately after the test that his firm might attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster with the tower on Starship test flight 5. SpaceX rolled out a section of the Super Heavy booster to the pad earlier this week, and yesterday, it placed it at the launch pad again to simulate a tower catch.
Starbase team testing the tower chopsticks for the upcoming catch of a Super Heavy booster pic.twitter.com/mwkefizmwO
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 27, 2024
SpaceX's goal to catch its rocket with the tower arms is the first time a rocket operator intends to do so. It aims to reduce the time taken to prepare the rocket for re flight, and it also removes the complication of trying to land the world's largest first stage rocket booster on legs. SpaceX's Falcon 9 uses either offshore drone ships or ground pads to land on its legs, and the firm recently flew a Falcon 9 rocket for the 22nd time to set a new record and beat its own record.
As it tests the rocket piece for a tower catch attempt, SpaceX is also building a second launch pad at the site. Musk's confidence with moving forward with the catch indicates that guiding the rocket back to the tower and 'catching' it might be easier than it appears. SpaceX's CEO and chief engineer compared the catch to to a large scale version of a fictional martial artist teaching his protege to catch a fly with chopsticks.
In her talk, Leuders also shared that SpaceX plans to build a permanent fuel depot in Earth orbit as part of its Starship missions to the Moon and Mars. These missions require a rapid cadence of Starship flights, and the depot will require SpaceX to work with difficult problems such as managing cryogenic fuel in space.
