SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster is back on the launch pad

Preparations continue for the spacecraft’s first orbital flight SpaceX Starship. Last August 5 in the evening, the company brought back the booster super-heavy on the launch pad to conduct tests. The booster in question is number 7 among the SpaceX prototypes.

August 6, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, shared this milestone in the development of the new rocket on Twitter. He posted a photo of the booster being installed on the launch pad at Starbase in South Texas.

If the tests go smoothly, we could be entitled to the whole first orbital flight of the Starship-Super Heavy rocket of SpaceX in the coming months.

The first Martian rocket?

The new heavy launcher from SpaceX is composed of two elements which are the booster named Super Heavy, and the ship named Starship. These two parts of the rocket are both reusable.

When these two elements are stacked, the rocket has a total height of 120 m, which makes it the largest rocket ever built. SpaceX plans to use this system to transport NASA astronauts and equipment to the surface of the Moon. Then the next step will be Mars, and the company could become the first private company to reach the Red Planet.

Final details to settle

The path SpaceX had to follow to get here has not been easy. The company faced many obstacles both technically and administratively.

Regarding this last part, SpaceX received authorization from the FAA or Federal Aviation Administration to continue the development of its rocket. However, the company must make 75 shares to reduce the impacts of the Starship on the area surrounding the base which is a biodiversity hotspot.

Today, we are still waiting for the FAA issues a flight license to SpaceX before it can proceed to orbital flight. As the organization explained, this license will only be issued when SpaceX has satisfied all the conditions concerning public safety, national security, and obviously the protection of biodiversity.

SOURCE: Space.com