Notice to aviators: check. Notice to sailors: check. Notice to locals before road and beach closure: check. Everything ready for the last launch of the first generation Starship. These are the changes of the sixth flight.
More light on landing. Unlike the fifth launch, which occurred at dawn, the sixth flight is scheduled to take off in the middle of the afternoon in Boca Chica, Texas. The objective is for the descent of the ship over the Indian Ocean to occur this time at dawn to record the landing maneuvers with more light.
Takeoff is scheduled for this Monday, November 18, at 4:00 p.m. local time in Starbase, 2:00 p.m. in Mexico City, and 9:00 p.m. in Madrid. SpaceX has a half-hour launch window that will be repeated on the 19th and 20th, in case a problem arises on Monday. The flight will be broadcast live through the SpaceX website and its official X profile.
First engine restart in flight. One of the most notable novelties of the sixth flight is that Starship 31 will fire up one of its six Raptor engines during its quasi-orbital trajectory in space.
This test is crucial for future orbital flights in which the spacecraft will have to restart engines in a vacuum to deorbit before landing. SpaceX hoped to complete this test during Flight 3, but had to cancel the restart due to a problem that left the spacecraft spinning on its axis on its path around Earth.
A smaller heat shield. Starship 31 does not have thermal tiles in the areas where SpaceX plans to install the capture hardware of future ships. Like the Super Heavy booster, the Starship is designed to land in the arms of a Mechazilla tower.
Although for now it will continue to simulate landing maneuvers over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX has installed a new secondary material under the ceramic tiles that protect the ship to continue evaluating options that improve the resistance of the heat shield during reentry.
A new angle on reentry. Atmospheric reentry is the maneuver that the company most resists. The Starship has survived plasma heat a couple of times, but with visible damage to the heat shield and aerodynamic surfaces.
The ailerons will be in a new position starting on the seventh flight, when the second-generation Starship debuts, but Ship 31 will re-enter with a higher angle of attack during the final phase of the descent, to test the ability of the aerodynamic surfaces to control the position of the vehicle, an essential maneuver for future captures in the tower.
Imagen | SpaceX
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