While we all expected to see Starship’s next test flight in September, this spacecraft will be grounded for the next few months.
Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, flew for the fourth time in June, and SpaceX has been preparing for a fifth flight ever since. But according to the decision of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), we are probably still at least two and a half months away from the Starship test flight.
“SpaceX must meet all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements before receiving FAA approval,” FAA officials said in a statement Wednesday, according to Space.com. It is not expected that the final permission for the fifth Starship flight will be issued before the end of November 2024 (early Azar).
SpaceX must meet all safety and environmental requirements before receiving FAA approval
The authorities explained the reason for their decision in the statement. According to them, “SpaceX’s current license, which has allowed a fourth Starship flight, allows for multiple flights with the same rocket configuration and mission profile. [اما] “SpaceX decided to change both for Starship’s fifth launch, prompting a deeper review.”
“Furthermore, SpaceX provided new information in mid-August explaining that the environmental impacts of the fifth flight cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA added in a statement. This requires the FAA to consult with other government agencies.
SpaceX is not happy with the FAA’s decision. The Federal Aviation Administration had previously said a permit review would likely be completed by late September, the company wrote in a blog post published last Tuesday.
Announcing that the Starship rocket had been technically ready to fly since early August, SpaceX claimed that the delay in issuing the permit was not based on a new safety concern, but instead stemmed from an unnecessary environmental analysis. The company added: “We have been delayed for unreasonable and annoying reasons.”
“Unfortunately, we are still stuck in a situation where it takes longer to go through the paperwork to issue a launch license than it does to design and build the same rocket,” SpaceX said. “This directly threatens America’s position as a leader in space and should never happen.”
Starship consists of two elements and both are designed to be completely and quickly reusable. The first element is a giant booster called Superheavy, and the second stage with a height of 50 meters is called the Starship or “Ship” for short. This rocket with a total height of 122 meters will eventually be used for traveling to the moon and Mars and other exploration purposes in the solar system.
Four test flights of Starship were carried out in April, November and March of 1402 and June of this year. The starship gradually improved its performance in each mission; Having reached orbital speed on the fourth flight as planned, both rocket stages survived the re-entry journey and landed in the ocean.
The fifth flight will be accompanied by another development. The superhighway will attempt to return to Earth after the Starship launch and land on the launch pad at Starbase, SpaceX’s launch and rocket production facility in South Texas. If all goes according to plan, it will be a big step towards achieving starship reusability.
