The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared SpaceX for launching the Starship Flight 10. The FAA shared in an update earlier today that it had closed its Starship Flight 9 mishap investigation to clear the way for the next Starship flight. Flight 9 flew in May and with August heading to a close, it's appearing as if SpaceX will fly Flight 10 after a gap of three months for the longest such gap since the one between Starship Flight 4 and Flight 5.
SpaceX Receives FAA Clearance For Starship Flight 10
Starship Flight 9 was the first since Flight 3, where SpaceX lost the Super Heavy booster. All other booster landings since Flight 3 were either controlled splashdowns in the water or tower catches. However, SpaceX decided to push the booster to its limit with Flight 9 and ended up losing the rocket before its splashdown in the ocean. The flight was the first mission in which SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster and flew it at a higher angle of attack during landing.
SpaceX was eager to fly the next mission as soon as possible after Flight 9, but it dealt with a major setback after the upper stage ship designated for the flight exploded on the test pad. While the firm had another ship in its inventory, courtesy of the hardware-rich nature of the Starship program, it did not have another test pad. As a result, it had to build a makeshift pad and install it on the launch mount to test the ship.
Now, the FAA closed its Starship Flight 10 investigation earlier today, following which SpaceX announced that it plans to fly the rocket again as soon as next Sunday after a three-month delay. Flight 10 will be quite important for SpaceX as it will provide the firm with another chance to test the second-generation upper stage ship. SpaceX has yet to recover this rocket successfully despite having flown it thrice. The most progressive launch was Flight 9, as the ship was able to successfully separate from the Super Heavy booster and fire up its engines before losing control during atmospheric entry.
However, crucially, SpaceX will not fly the booster at a high angle of attack during reentry on Flight 10. In its technical investigation report for Flight 9, the firm explained that a higher angle stressed the booster's fuel transfer tube during the test. Subsequently, the tube's failure led to the rocket's failure and its explosion before a splashdown.
As for the ship, SpaceX revealed that it detected a fuel tank leak soon after the rocket's engines fired up. While Starship's onboard systems continued to manage the leak throughout its brief flight, the fault led to the rocket aborting its payload deployment and the in-space engine burn. SpaceX has upgraded the faulty component responsible for the failure after replicating the failure and stress testing the upgrade.
During Flight 10, the firm will attempt to deploy Starlink simulator satellites and an in-space engine burn with the ship. It will also test the ship for a tower catch, test new tile materials and stress the ship's lower flaps to their limit. For the booster, the firm will land it in the water after conducting multiple engine configuration tests and a controlled stage separation similar to Flight 9.
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