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Updated November 1st, 2022 at 15:53 IST

Elon Musk's Starship could launch on 1st orbital flight in early December, says NASA

Elon Musk's next-generation rocket Starship could launch on its 1st orbital flight as soon as early December, said a NASA official at a recent advisory meeting.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Elon Musk
Image: SpaceX | Image:self
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NASA has predicted that the next-generation Starship rocket could reach orbit for the first time in early December. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is developing the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket at the Starbase facility in West Texas for its use on lunar missions and eventually for missions to Mars. 

During the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee on October 31, Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for Artemis Program, said that the agency is tracking four Starship launches and “the (current) schedule would lead to an early December test flight”, he added, per SpaceNews. 

Kirasich detailed that the Starship would liftoff from Boca Chica, SpaceX’s facility in Texas, and almost immediately reenter for a splashdown near Hawaii. The megarocket will not complete one full orbit in its orbital flight, the official said. The December launch, however, depends on a successful static fire test of all 33 engines that are equipped in the Super Heavy Booster of the Starship rocket. 

SpaceX has fired seven engines of the booster simultaneously so far and is yet to ignite all 33 of them. But the company is proceeding carefully after an incident in July when the Booster caught fire during the Spin Start test after all the engines were ignited. “Going forward, we won’t do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once”, Musk said after the incident. About the explosion, Kirasich explained that it occurred because of “a relatively large amount of fuel” mixed with a cloud of oxygen.

Hurdles before SpaceX

Notably, SpaceX still has a lot of hurdles to overcome before Starship could liftoff. One of those hurdles is a successful 'wet dress rehearsal' wherein the rocket will be loaded with propellant and a full launch countdown will be carried out before the actual liftoff. A permit from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also required, which recently gave a green light for Starship's development but laid conditions for offering the launch license. 

The NASA official said that SpaceX has lost a few months this year because the orbital launch was planned for summer. It is worth noting, however, that Musk had planned to launch Starship in December 2021, which makes a delay of a full year. Earlier this year, he said that SpaceX is 'proceeding very carefully' with Starship as another mishap at the launch pad could push the launch by another six months. 

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Published November 1st, 2022 at 15:53 IST

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