a SpaceX It is expected to make the first orbital launch of the Starship, its spacecraft, in January 2022. The promise came from the company’s CEO and founder, Elon Musk, who mentioned the prediction during a virtual conference with the US National Academy of Sciences.
However, Musk did not limit himself to only the “first” launch, also saying that he expects to launch “more than a dozen” during 2022, although he also acknowledged that the main obstacles that SpaceX faces today are of a regulatory nature (as for the first mission). ) and production: “Prototyping is easy, manufacturing is hard,” he said last Wednesday (17) No Twitter.
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The meeting lasted about eight hours and was broadcast over it Youtube, with musk being the ‘attraction’ of the occasion. The CEO responded to a number of questions from the Scientific Committee members, giving us access to new details about the Starship. The most interesting part is that Musk does not expect complete success with the first release, given the novelty of the project.
“There are a lot of risks associated with this first release, so I wouldn’t say it has a good chance of succeeding, but we’re going to make a lot of progress on it anyway.”
According to Musk, the idea is to go through an extensive process to ensure the safety of the ship. He said the Starship will conduct the first of several orbital tests in January, with “a few” more test flights to follow. By the end of 2022, SpaceX is expected to begin using the orbiting spacecraft to launch high-performance satellites, and only then depart on larger missions, such as potentially manned flights for astronauts.
To do this, SpaceX still had to run a “series of tests” throughout December: the company recently conducted First static fire test From the Starship SN20, the prototype of its orbital class. All six Raptor thrusts were fired and the test passed, making the vehicle more or less qualified to fly.
deficiency, however, o super heavy, the rocket that will carry the spacecraft from Earth to the edge of space with our planet. He was the one Musk referred to for tests in December, after the rocket — the largest of its kind — went for months without direct fire on SpaceX structures in Texas.
At the moment, the development of spacecraft and missiles has already been completed, but they still lack a support base for launch and some minor tasks in the group structure of the group – both are intended for reuse. After all, but before the first flight, the US Civil Aviation Administration (FAA) should conduct another inspection to ensure normality – with January of next year as a possible starting point.
The strange thing about Musk’s promises is the question of “dozens” of releases in 2022: hypothetically, even in the best possible scenario for SpaceX, FAA They tend to limit the number of launches in the same year to between three and eight attempts – it all depends on the type of missile and some other factors.
So far, no rocket in history has reached nine launches in the same year it debuted, and overall, the few that reach double-digit launches only do so from its second year onwards.
However, Musk has not explained how he intends to change that.
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