This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
As it waits for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to clear its flight profile for the fifth Starship test, SpaceX is busy testing its launch pad and tower arms to try to catch the 232 feet tall Super Heavy rocket booster after Flight 5. The upcoming Starship test will be the first to attempt the risky tower catch, and SpaceX's latest Starship update provided earlier this month shared that it would continue to fine tune this procedure during the time that it takes for the FAA to evaluate its Starship Flight 5 test application.
SpaceX Conducts Several Catch Simulations With Starship Launch Tower Arms Ahead Of Flight 5
SpaceX first started to test the launch tower's arms for a booster catch in June, when it transported a piece of a rocket booster to the pad. These tests saw the tower arms, also called chopsticks, repeatedly impact the cylinder's sides as teams tried to simulate a successful catch. After this test, one of the tower arms was replaced, according to footage from local media, and testing slowed down as SpaceX shifted its focus on the second stage Starship.
Now, as it waits for the FAA's clearance for Starship Flight 5, SpaceX has resumed testing the tower arms for the risky catch attempt. It shipped the booster piece to the pad earlier this week and tested it with the arms before removing it from the tower and sending it back to production and assembly facilities earlier today.
Footage from local media shows that the tower arms were tested at least six times during the latest run. Several of these simulated the test while they were above the booster piece, and other tests saw the arms close around the cylinder as closely as they could without impacting it.
Heading towards the fifth Starship test that could take place at the tail end of this month or in early September, the rocket's second stage has seen multiple static fires. Despite having flown the full stack four times, SpaceX has yet to demonstrate an in-orbit engine ignition with the second stage. Starship Flight 5 could see this crucial test take place as well, and if both the tower catch and the engine ignition are successful, then SpaceX will have cleared several checkpoints in its rocket development.
The recent tower catch tests also saw SpaceX test the arms' vertical motion where they moved up and down while the booster part was placed between them. Other test runs that involved the arms closing around the rocket piece saw both of them move simultaneously during some tests, and only one arm approached the cylinder in others.
Starship Flight 4 was the first time that both the Super Heavy booster and the second stage ship successfully made a soft splashdown in the water. This means that if the ship repeats this during Flight 5, then SpaceX might bring the second stage back to the launch site after Flight 6. The second stage is the world's first rocket of its kind that is designed to be fully reusable, as part of SpaceX's bid to drastically reduce the cost of launch and pick up the speed for consecutive launches for its plans to eventually colonize Mars.
Testing seemed to go well. pic.twitter.com/xCqGZRfJIl
— LabPadre Space (@LabPadre) August 16, 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.
