Barring any last-minute technical issues, it’s really only the weather that can cause problems for SpaceX’s Starship launch on Sunday, August 24. So, how’s it looking?
The weather forecasts for SpaceX’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica, Texas, appear to be looking good for Sunday’s launch of the most powerful rocket ever built, which is targeted for 7:30 p.m. ET.
As of Saturday morning, The Weather Channel suggests it’ll be “partly cloudy” at Starbase at launch time, with only a 12% chance of rain and only light winds in the area.
AccuWeather also expects light winds and puts the chances of rain slightly higher, but not at a level that should trouble the SpaceX team organizing Sunday’s launch.
The team will also be closely monitoring factors such as upper-level winds, wind shear, cloud layers, and any storm activity in the area and further away along the rocket’s ascent path. The fact that up to now SpaceX has said nothing about any concerns bodes well for Sunday’s planned liftoff.
If there are any changes to the schedule, whether due to technical issues or inclement weather, SpaceX will announce them first on its X account. We’ll update here, too, just as soon as we can.
If you’re interested in watching a livestream of the SpaceX’s 10th launch of its Starship rocket, Digital Trends has all the details you need.
The 121-meter-tall rocket creates a massive 17 million pounds of thrust when it leaves the launchpad, more than any other rocket in history.
After the first-stage Super Heavy booster separates from the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, the booster will attempt a controlled a landing in the sea rather than return to the launch site (in spectacular fashion!) as it has done in several of its previous flights.
The spacecraft’s flight, meanwhile, will conduct several experiments focused on enabling the vehicle to return to the launch site on a future flight, such as testing alternative materials for the tiles protecting the vehicle during reentry. It will also deploy eight Starlink simulators.
“Flight tests continue to provide valuable learnings to inform the design of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles,” SpaceX said.
NASA will be watching Sunday’s test closely as it plans to use the rocket for crew and cargo flights to the moon, and possibly even Mars, in the coming years.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.