https://spacewatch.global/tag/starship/ AN INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE ON SPACE Fri, 17 Jan 2025 11:51:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://spacewatch.global/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/SpaceWatchGlobal-Sign-90x90.png https://spacewatch.global/tag/starship/ 32 32 https://spacewatch.global/2025/01/starship-first-stage-explodes-during-seventh-flight-test/ Fri, 17 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=63478 Starship's upper stage suffered a fiery explosion during the rocket's seventh flight test as fire reportedly developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Despite this fiery conclusion to the upper stage, SpaceX successfully landed and caught the super-heavy booster.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2024/11/the-space-cafe-podcast-119-with-dr-robert-zubrin/ Thu, 07 Nov 2024 10:00:50 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=62149 In this expansive conversation, Dr. Robert Zubrin takes us beyond the technical challenges of reaching Mars to explore the complex realities of establishing permanent human settlements on the Red Planet. While the world watches Starship development, Zubrin reveals how energy production, food sustainability, radiation protection, and governance structures pose the real challenges for human survival on Mars. His insights challenge common misconceptions and propose innovative solutions for everything from terraforming to creating new societies, demonstrating how Mars settlement could reshape human civilization both on and off Earth.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2024/06/starship-successfully-launches-and-makes-controlled-reentry/ Fri, 07 Jun 2024 06:00:54 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=55529 SpaceX has successfully launched its Starship rocket on its fourth flight test, clearing all previous milestones with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship second stage making a soft splashdown. The booster’s flight ended with a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico seven minutes and 24 seconds into the flight. Meanwhile, Starship ignited its three-center Raptor engines to execute the first flip maneuver and landing burn for the first time, before soft splashing in the Indian Ocean one hour and six minutes after launch.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2024/06/spacex-targets-june-6-for-starships-fourth-flight-test/ Mon, 03 Jun 2024 06:00:32 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=55434 SpaceX has announced that it is now targeting 6 June 2024 for Starship's fourth flight test pending regulatory approvals. The flight test will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight test, with Starship aiming to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight path will not require a deorbit burn for reentry, to maximize public safety while still providing SpaceX the opportunity to meet its primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2023/12/spacewatchgl-opinion-is-humanitys-future-in-space-dependent-on-starship/ Fri, 08 Dec 2023 09:00:29 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=52692 In the first half of 2023 I conducted a study on the future of the global space economy for the future studies institute 2b AHEAD. Being based on in-depth expert interviews from both inside and outside the space sector, the study contains some wild predictions for the upcoming two decades: private space stations, modular, repairable satellites, a permanent Moon base, and nuclear propulsion. But many of these predictions stand on the assumption that SpaceX’s Starship will, as promised, dramatically ease accessibility to space. What if Starship fails? In this article, I would like to provide an overview of the consequences of Starship’s failure for future human activities in space.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2023/11/faa-completes-spacex-starship-safety-review/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:00:11 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=52049 The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has completed a key portion of the launch licence review for SpaceX’s Starship. Regulators said on Tuesday they completed a safety review focused on how a Starship launch could affect public health and property. The review evaluated SpaceX’s safety organisation, system safety processes, flight safety analysis, and quantitative risk criteria for launch, reentry and vehicle disposal. The review is a key step towards SpaceX being able to launch. ]]> https://spacewatch.global/2023/04/spacex-completes-first-fully-integrated-starship-flight-test/ Fri, 21 Apr 2023 06:00:40 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=48202 SpaceX has successfully completed its first fully integrated Starship flight test as it successfully launched the rocket. However, the launch was not a complete success, as the rocket exploded four minutes into the flight. This happened as the booster failed to separate from the spacecraft as intended, causing the rocket to tumble and subsequently explode before falling into the. Despite this, the rocket successfully separated from the Super Heavy booster, a key in-flight milestone.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2023/02/spacex-test-fires-31-engines-on-starships-super-heavy-booster/ Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:00:48 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=46551 SpaceX’s Starship program has successfully completed a static fire test of Booster 7 ahead of its launch. The test took place on Thursday on the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas. ]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/12/japanese-billionaire-announces-eight-artists-to-fly-to-the-moon-with-him/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 07:00:06 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=45466 Online fashion retailer Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese billionaire who purchased all the seats aboard SpaceX’s Starship, has picked eight crew members to accompany him on the journey. for the first-ever artist-centered mission.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/11/nasa-awards-spacex-contract-modification-for-missions-beyond-artemis-iii/ Thu, 17 Nov 2022 07:00:39 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=44869 SpaceX was awarded a NASA contract modification, Option B, to further develop its Starship human landing system to meet agency requirements for long-term human exploration of the Moon as part of the Artemis program, NASA said. According to the modification, SpaceX will conduct a second crewed landing demonstration in 2027 as part of the Artemis IV mission.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/07/starship-booster-test-ends-in-fire/ Wed, 13 Jul 2022 06:00:34 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=42091 SpaceX’s first orbital Starship vehicle’s booster test ended in an anomalous fire originating from the base of the vehicle. The pad was cleared of personnel at the time of the fire, no injuries were reported. Super Heavy Booster 7 was tested at SpaceX’s Starbase complex at Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX was planning on conducting a spin start test of the engines, which did not involve ignition.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/05/spacex-aims-to-raise-us-1-7-billion-in-funding-round/ Mon, 23 May 2022 06:00:28 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=41099 SpaceX is launching a new round of funding, aiming for US $1.725 billion at US $70 per share, bringing the company’s valuation to US $127 billion, CNBC reported. SpaceX remains a private company even over 20 years after its founding. SpaceX is holding a secondary sale to company insiders and existing shareholders as well, for up to US $750 million.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/03/2022-spending-bill-allocates-us-24-billion-for-nasa/ Fri, 11 Mar 2022 07:00:34 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=39774 House and Senate appropriators published the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2022, offering US $24 billion to NASA. The amount is US $760 million less than what the agency requested. The largest cut is in the space technology directorate, US $1.1 billion instead of the sought US $1.425 billion.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/02/spacex-to-launch-three-polaris-missions/ Tue, 15 Feb 2022 07:00:15 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=39204 Founder and CEO of Shift4, Jared Isaacman, announced the Polaris Program, a first-of-its-kind effort to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities, while continuing to raise funds and awareness for important causes on Earth. The program consists of three manned spaceflight missions demonstrating new technologies, conducting research, and concluding with SpaceX’s first human Starship flight.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2022/01/elon-musk-plans-to-fly-people-to-mars-in-5-10-years/ Mon, 03 Jan 2022 07:00:11 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=38297 Elon Musk said during an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast that SpaceX could be transporting people to Mars in five years. According to the SpaceX CEO, the worst case scenario is that the Starship rocket is ready for taking humans to the planet in 10 years.  Starship, “the most complex and advanced rocket” as per Musk, has already undergone static fire tests.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2021/12/space-cafe-radio-top-10-most-important-events-in-space-in-2021/ Fri, 31 Dec 2021 09:00:39 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=38220 In this Space Café Radio – TOP-10 MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN SPACE IN 2021, contributing editor Dr. Emma Gatti talks about her thoughts on the previous year. 2021 has been an intense year for the Space sector. From breakthrough scientific achievements to thorny diplomatic accidents, the industry seems almost to be not keeping pace with itself.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2021/12/faa-delays-starship-environmental-review/ Wed, 29 Dec 2021 07:00:13 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=38193 The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it needed two more months to complete the environmental review of SpaceX Starship orbital launches from the Boca Chica facility in Texas. The FAA was unable to meet the original deadline of 31st December due to the high volume of comments submitted.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2021/11/starship-to-launch-in-early-2022/ Fri, 19 Nov 2021 07:00:13 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=37294 SpaceX can have Starship’s first orbital flight as early as January, pending regulatory approvals, CEO Elon Musk said at a joint meeting of the National Academies’ Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy.  According to Musk, the company is in the final preparations of both the vehicle and their new launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2021/08/blue-origin-tests-jarvis-tank-in-cape-canaveral/ Thu, 26 Aug 2021 06:00:32 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=35362 Blue Origin moved its first stainless steel test tank to Launch Complex 36 in Florida by modular transport to prepare it for testing. The prototype is part of Project Jarvis aiming to develop a fully reusable upper stage for the New Glenn rocket. The tank will undergo a series of tests to determine its strength and capability to hold pressurised propellants, Ars Technica reports.]]> https://spacewatch.global/2021/08/spacexs-starship-ready-for-first-test-flight-in-a-few-weeks/ Wed, 18 Aug 2021 06:00:38 +0000 https://spacewatch.global/?p=35189 The first full-size prototype of Starship should be ready for orbital test flight "in a few weeks," Elon Musk said. SpaceX has yet to run the 120-metre-tall rocket through its pre-flight tests. Meanwhile the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting an environmental assessment of SpaceX's South Texas launch site, which poses a logistical hurdle.]]>