On July 7, it was reported that a few days ago, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that the 5th orbital test flight of Starship will be carried out in 4 weeks (August).
It is understood that after the 4th test flight of Starship, Musk chose to increase the stakes on the test, and planned to use the tower robotic arm to "clamp" the booster to complete the recovery in the 5th test flight, which means that the recovery difficulty has greatly increased.
However, SpaceX will only make the decision to "clip" the booster in the launch tower when it is sure that the system is normal, otherwise if it fails, the launch tower will also be blown up, resulting in the postponement of the follow-up plan.
It is reported that Starship can be described as the most powerful launch vehicle in human history, the rocket is 120 meters high, and consists of a "super heavy thruster" equipped with 33 "Raptor" engines and a reusable spacecraft cabin on the top.
Musk once said at the "Starship" press conference held in 2022 that the spacecraft cabin of the Starship can be recycled within 6 to 8 hours, and it can be launched 3 times a day.
Musk said that the quick recovery means that the cost is extremely low, "and it can only cost a few million dollars per flight, or even as low as $1 million." ”