The SpaceX Starship is seen as it stands on the launch pad ahead of its third flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on March 12, 2024. Image: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
The first time, it tumbled out of control and exploded; the second time, an onboard fire triggered its self-destruct mechanism.
On Thursday, SpaceX will once again attempt to fly its giant rocket, Starship. The company’s founder, Elon Musk, had said that he had hoped for a launch attempt towards the end of the week. A final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration came through late Wednesday afternoon.
The company has made upgrades and likely changed procedures since its previous attempts, but it remains to be seen whether this will be the launch that proves that the largest rocket ever built can really fly.
“They say that the third time is a charm,” says Paulo Lozano, director of the space propulsion laboratory at MIT. But, he adds, launching a rocket as large as Starship “is not a simple task.”
“Nobody has done like this before at this scale,” he says.
Starship is a stainless steel monster. It stands nearly 400 feet tall, and its first stage, known as “Super Heavy,” is powered by 33 Raptor engines that must all work together to heave it towards orbit.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk believes this massive machine can carry humans to the moon and Mars. Its durable stainless steel construction makes it easy to reuse, at least in theory, and could dramatically reduce the cost of launching satellites and people into orbit. NASA has given billions to SpaceX to develop Starship as a lunar landing system that could deliver astronauts to the lunar surface.
But before Starship can fulfill these lofty ambitions, it’s got to fly. In its first test, nearly a year ago, the spacecraft made it off the ground, but it did considerable damage to the launch pad in the process, hurling concrete and debris for up to half-a-mile. Multiple engines in the first stage gave out, and as the rocket fell back to Earth, its self-destruct system also failed to properly destroy it. It tumbled out of control for several seconds before finally breaking apart.
SpaceX’s Starship last April ended after the rocket spun out of control and eventually exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. Image: Eric Gay/AP
The second flight in December was more successful. The launch pad was not obliterated by the 33 engines, all of which fired as expected. The Starship also successfully separated from its booster at the predetermined altitude. But the booster failed to reignite its engines properly and exploded before it could descend back to the Gulf of Mexico. Starship’s self-destruct system (beefed up after the first flight) also detonated before it could reach its desired altitude.
Scott Manley, a popular YouTuber who closely tracks Starship launches, says that the second stage likely failed because it had too much fuel and oxidizer aboard. To try and reduce mass as it flew into space, “it began dumping excess oxygen,” he says. Unfortunately, the oxygen, which is highly flammable, apparently caught fire either in or around the rear of the rocket. “There was a fire in there that got turbo-charged by having oxygen just leak all over it,” he says.
This time around, Manley says several additional changes have been made. Based on photos taken by rocket-watchers near the site, the fire suppression system appears to have been beefed up and the oxygen-dumping system has also been tweaked. “That will probably solve that problem,” he says, but adds, “It doesn’t guarantee they’ve solved every single problem.”
Starship has also added additional tasks to the flight test. It will attempt to briefly open its payload bay doors while in orbit. And it will conduct a test to see whether it can transfer propellant from one fuel tank to another. Moving fuel around will be critical for both lunar and Martian trips, as the vehicle will need to top off its tanks for both journeys.
Lozano says that fuel transfer is particularly challenging in space.
“All of these propellants have very high vapor pressure,” he says. That means if they’re exposed to the vacuum of space, they will “decompress explosively.” Even the act of pumping fuel is tricky in zero gravity, Lozano, says, because there’s no force pressing the fuel towards the bottom of the tanks, where pumps might normally operate.
“There is no experience doing this kind of thing,” he says. “It’s a new technology, but I’m pretty sure that technically it’s possible to do.”
Finally, Starship will also attempt to relight its Raptor engines before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Both Manley and Lozano say they will be closely watching that process.
As Starship enters the atmosphere, “you need to protect it from massive amounts of heating,” Manley says. The underbelly of the ship is covered in thermal protection tiles, he says, but “they’ve been falling off on every single test. So it remains to be seen whether they can actually keep enough tiles on Starship for it to make it through re-entry.”
“If it comes back in one piece, I think it’s going to be a big success,” Lozano says.
In total, the flight test will take a little over an hour, and — assuming all goes well — the spaceship will splash down in the Indian Ocean.
Launch is expected to take place Thursday around 8 a.m. Eastern.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
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