Starship’s Latest Leap: A Deep Dive into Flight Test 9 and What’s Next
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Starship's Latest Leap: A Deep Dive into Flight Test 9 and What's Next
This week on This Week in Space, hosts Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik, joined by Space.com's Mike Wall, unpacked the highly anticipated Starship Flight Test 9. Was it a triumph or another fiery lesson? The consensus: a mixed bag of impressive milestones and persistent challenges.
Flight 9: Partial Success, Big Ambitions
Mike Wall, who covered the story for Space.com, characterized Flight 9 as a "partial success". As he highlighted, SpaceX views these as test flights, and perfection isn't expected at this stage of development. There were indeed significant positives to celebrate. For the first time, SpaceX successfully reflew the Super Heavy booster, which had previously flown on Flight 7 in January. This is a huge step toward their goal of full and rapid reusability. The booster performed admirably, even with 29 of its 33 Raptor engines being the same ones from its first flight.
SpaceX also experimented with a new booster landing strategy, involving a different angle of attack to increase drag and reduce fuel consumption during the landing burn. While the Super Heavy ultimately "blew up during the landing burn, about six minutes into flight," Wall noted that SpaceX would likely consider this mostly good, as it brought them close to their desired hard ocean splashdown.
The Ship upper stage also showed improvements. It reached space and achieved its desired suborbital trajectory, a notable advance over the previous two Starship flights, where the ship broke apart much earlier. However, it didn't make it to the planned soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Experiments on board, such as deploying dummy Starlink satellites and an in-space relight of a Raptor engine, were unsuccessful. An "attitude control error," possibly a fuel leak, led to the loss of control, and contact was lost 46 minutes into the flight.
The Road to Mars: Ambition vs. Reality
Elon Musk's grand vision for Mars colonization remains at the forefront of SpaceX's plans, as highlighted in his recent presentation. He teased a future version of Starship that could be an astounding 467 feet tall, emphasizing the need for massive scale to transport a million tons of mass to Mars for a self-sustaining city.
However, the panel raised valid points about the practicalities of these ambitious timelines. Rod Pyle pointed out the stark contrast with the Saturn V, which carried people after only two flights, though he acknowledged the vastly different budgets and development approaches. Tariq Malik questioned the feasibility of Elon's proposed three-to-four-week launch cadence, especially with ongoing FAA mishap investigations. Mike Wall agreed that while SpaceX can build and test fast enough to meet such a cadence, regulatory approvals are a significant factor outside their control.
A significant hurdle for lunar and Mars missions is in-orbit refueling. Estimates for a lunar mission range from 8 (Musk's claim) to 12-16 (NASA's figures) tanker flights. The challenge of keeping cryogenics stable in orbit while waiting for multiple tanker flights, and the sheer logistics of launching so frequently, remain key concerns. SpaceX is addressing this by building Raptor 3 engines "like there's no tomorrow", constructing massive "gigabays" for assembly, and expanding launch pads in both Texas and Florida to support a high-tempo launch cycle.
The Space Race Continues: Artemis and Beyond
The conversation also touched on the broader "space race" and the competition with Blue Origin and China. Mike Wall still bets on Starship for the Artemis III or IV lunar lander, citing SpaceX's resources, pace, and Elon's "monomaniacal focus". However, Tariq Malik cautioned against counting out Blue Origin, noting their uncrewed lunar lander could fly by the end of this year.
China's rapid advancements and increasing capabilities in space, including their own space station, were also highlighted. While China is willing to take more risks, the panel agreed that a crew loss on a lunar mission would be a significant international embarrassment, suggesting they might not rush their goal of putting taikonauts on the Moon by 2029 if it jeopardizes safety.
The discussion wrapped up with a collective desire to see humanity succeed in space, acknowledging the frustrations of ambitious timelines versus technical realities. As Mike Wall put it, "we all want that sci-fi dream to come true."
Listen to the full episode of This Week in Space to catch all the fascinating insights and discussions on these and other exciting space topics!
