SpaceX may fly a new Starship rocket this week, after Elon Musk blasted the FAA for canceling a prior attempt

Morgan McFall-Johnsen
elon musk sn8 launch test flight
Left: Elon Musk at a press briefing on March 2, 2019. Right: SpaceX's Starship SN8 rocketship prototype launches in Boca Chica, Texas, on December 9, 2020. Dave Mosher/Insider; SpaceX

SpaceX could fly a new prototype of its Starship rocket ship six miles above south Texas this week, according to government notices.

The flight would follow a public quarrel between Elon Musk the Federal Aviation Administration over regulatory roadblocks last week, and a reported investigation into SpaceX violating its launch license.

The company hopes to pull off the tricky launch as soon as Tuesday. It involves the 16-story rocket soaring to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), belly-flopping toward the ground, reigniting its engines, and turning upright just before touching down on a landing pad. If successful, the flight would be the highest and most ambitious yet for a Starship vehicle.

Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, wants the final Starship-Super Heavy launch system - which may stand 120 meters (394 feet) tall - to be fully reusable. If it works, Starship might slash the cost of reaching space about 1,000-fold, power round-the-world hypersonic travel on Earth, and fly astronauts to the moon. Musk's ultimate plan is to build 1,000 Starships, use them to fly people and cargo to Mars, and build an independent, self-sustaining city there.

SpaceX first launched a Starship prototype of this kind in early December. Called Starship serial No. 8, or SN8, it roared tens of thousands of feet above the company's facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. As SN8 neared the ground in a belly-flop-like freefall, it re-fired its engines to flip upright and slow its descent. However, low pressure in a propellant tank caused the spaceship to fall too fast, slam into its landing pad, and explode.

SpaceX considered the seven-minute test flight a success because it was an experiment. Also, the vehicle flew higher than ever before and performed unprecedented maneuvers like sequential engine shutdowns and aerial flips; prior test flights had been "hops" of a few hundred feet.

However, the SN8 flight violated the terms of SpaceX's launch license with the FAA, Joey Roulette of The Verge reported on Friday. It's unclear what the violation was, but the FAA is now investigating the company for both that infringement and the explosive landing, according to the outlet. The reported violations may have contributed to the regulatory agency scrubbing SpaceX's planned launch last week.

Now SpaceX aims to get FAA approval and finally fly the new prototype, called SN9. Like its predecessor, the rocket is powered by three Raptor engines.

The company announced that it could launch as early as Monday, but the earliest possible window for launch appears to be Tuesday.

That's because the FAA has only issued airspace closure notices in the area for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. A judge in Cameron County, Texas, also issued road-closure notices for Boca Chica - another necessary prerequisite for a launch attempt - for Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST.

The FAA and the Cameron County judge have issued such notices on and off for about three weeks, but SpaceX didn't announce any attempt to launch until last week.

The FAA wouldn't approve an SN9 launch last week due to 'safety issues'

starship sn9 prototype spacex boca chica texas
The SN9 during static-fire testing in Boca Chica, Texas, on January 13, 2021. @SpacePadreIsle on Twitter

Launching and landing Starships without damaging them will be key to Musk's vision of making the launch system fully and rapidly reusable. Unlike SN8, the SN9 test flight could stick the landing.

The company announced its intention to make that attempt on Thursday, and workers prepared to remotely load propellant into the rocket's fuel tanks. But as the day progressed, it became clear that the FAA had not given SpaceX approval to launch. The agency yanked its airspace closure - a requirement for launch - and issued an advisory that the flight attempt was officially scrubbed.

Musk vented on Twitter in response.

"Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure," he wrote Thursday afternoon. "Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars." (The agency recently streamlined its rocket-launch rules, though that policy shift is not set to take effect until later this year.)

SpaceX began to load liquid fuel onto the rocket, possibly hoping to obtain approval by the time the engines were ready to roar. But the FAA did not budge, and SpaceX unloaded the fuel as its launch window closed.

"We will continue working with SpaceX to resolve outstanding safety issues before we approve the next test flight," an FAA spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Insider.

The next day, a more detailed statement indicated that the delay may have been related to the SN8 flight.

starhip sn8 nosecone spacex boca chica test flight explosion
The nosecone of the Starship prototype SN8 after it exploded during a test flight, December 10, 2020. @SpacePadreIsle on Twitter

"The FAA will continue to work with SpaceX to evaluate additional information provided by the company as part of its application to modify its launch license," the FAA spokesperson said on Friday. "While we recognize the importance of moving quickly to foster growth and innovation in commercial space, the FAA will not compromise its responsibility to protect public safety. We will approve the modification only after we are satisfied that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements."

It's unclear what those modifications are, but they could be related to the explosion and launch-license violation of SN8. As of Monday afternoon, it was unclear whether the FAA had approved the modified launch license or given SpaceX the go-ahead for an SN9 flight.

Watch SN9's launch attempt live

SpaceX may broadcast the launch attempt live on YouTube. If so, we will embed the live feed here. We will also add NASASpaceflight's livestream once it begins, since its knowledgeable broadcasters offer live commentary and multiple quality camera views.

In the meantime, fans of the company are on the ground and streaming their own live video of the launch site. An added bonus: SpaceX rolled out an even newer prototype, the SN10, last week. Broadcasts show the two Starships standing side by side.

LabPadre offers live commentary of launch attempts, along with six unique views of the Starship launch site. Below is the channel's main 4K-resolution feed.

For a more distant view of the launch site - broadcast from the top of a hotel resort in South Padre Island about 6 miles away - check out SPadre's 24-hour live feed.

A series of events typically precedes a Starship prototype launch. A couple of hours beforehand, SpaceX will clear the launch site of personnel. Roughly an hour ahead of the flight, storage tanks at the launch site will begin venting gases as SpaceX prepares to fuel Starship with cryogenic fuels. That fueling later causes Starship to vent gases out of its top, a signal that launch could occur within minutes.

However, poor weather, a technical glitch, or a boat that gets within the launch's danger zone - a new challenge for Starship - could lead to further delays.

This post has been updated with new information. It was originally published on January 15, 2021.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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