This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
After sharing a tentative launch date for Starship through a live stream link on Elon Musk's X earlier this month, SpaceX is sticking with a Thursday launch date for the world's largest rocket. SpaceX's third Starship test flight, dubbed IFT-3, is slated to launch from Boca Chica, Texas early morning local time tomorrow, according to the firm's latest update posted just moments back. The update came just as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the go ahead for changes to Starship's landing profile, and then proceeded to authorize Starship IFT-3 (or the OFT-3 as the FAA dubs it in its official statement) launch.
SpaceX Plans To Conduct Up To Five Indian Ocean Starship Landings Shares FAA Analysis
A key change for the third Starship flight, apart from upgrades to both rockets, involves the landing site. SpaceX shared earlier that this time around, it will try to land Starship in the Indian Ocean. According to the firm, this will allow it to "attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns," as part of a broader array of testing objectives that will also see SpaceX try to re-ingite a Raptor engine in space.
This change also meant that the FAA had to check whether the updates would affect the environment. The agency evaluates SpaceX's test operations under environmental law in the U.S., and the results of the FAA's evaluation were released earlier today. They gave SpaceX the go ahead and determined that the Indian Ocean landing profile would not significantly impact the environment.
The FAA also shared details for SpaceX's future Starship test. According to the agency, SpaceX plans to "conduct up to a total of ten nominal operations, including up to a maximum of five overpressure events from Starship intact impact and up to a total of five reentry debris or soft water landings in the Indian Ocean," within 12 months of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) correspondence through a concurrence letter. A copy of this letter, part of the FAA's release, was signed on March 7th.
The FAA also shares the reason behind SpaceX's choice of the Indian Ocean as the landing site for the second stage Starship during the IFT-3 and subsequent tests.
According to the agency:
The need for expanding into the Indian Ocean stems from the increasing complexity and requirements of the Starship mission objectives. The current operational constraints limit optimization of launch trajectories and decrease the probability of success for early mission objectives. Landing operations in the Indian Ocean would give SpaceX the flexibility to design and execute launch trajectories that meet mission objectives.
Additionally, the NOA-NMFS's contingency letter adds that the FAA first contacted it for an Indian Ocean landing site on November 21st as part of SpaceX's plans to conduct five landings. This was just three days after Starship IFT-2, and SpaceX officials met the NMFS in December. The meeting saw SpaceX inform the NMFS that it was going to "going to revise their analysis of Starship’s explosion based on information gathered about Starship’s landing orientation during the most recent flight, which occurred on November 18, 2023."
Some of SpaceX's test objectives for IFT-3 include a crucial propellant transfer demonstration, test of the second stage Starship payload bay and the aforementioned Raptor firing. The two hour launch window will open at 7 a.m. local time in Texas tomorrow, and the test will set the tone for Starship's 2024 test campaign.
Targeting Thursday, March 14 for Starship’s third flight test. A 110-minute launch window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK pic.twitter.com/hFq1L4w9et
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 13, 2024
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
