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By Trevor Mogg Published November 24, 2024 5:45 PM
The Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines powering the Starship's sixth launch on November 19, 2024.
SpaceX
SpaceX could be targeting as many as 25 launches of its Starship rocket for 2025 as it readies the massive vehicle for crew and cargo trips to the moon, Mars, and possibly beyond.
The targeted launch cadence for the Starship, which comprises the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, appears in a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) draft environmental assessment for Starship missions from Boca Chica, Texas. The document primarily addresses the environmental considerations and regulatory processes linked to SpaceX’s desire to increase the frequency of its Starship test flights from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica.
SpaceX’s last stated target, established in 2022 before the rocket’s first flight in April of the following year, was for as many as five Starship launches per year, but now that the company is getting into a rhythm with its test flights — conducting the last two in the space of two months — SpaceX wants to ramp up its efforts in order to develop the rocket more rapidly.
The document states that SpaceX wants to perform up to 25 annual Starship orbital launches, up to 25 annual landings of the Super Heavy booster, and up to 25 annual landings of the Starship spacecraft. SpaceX boss Elon Musk has said that the ultimate goal is to see hundreds of Starship launches taking place each year, though environmentalists believe each Starship launch is damaging the local area.
While the launches would originate from SpaceX’s Starbase facility, the landings could take place in a number of locations, including at Starbase using giant mechanical arms to secure the rocket on its return, in the same way as happened on the fifth test; on a floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico; in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii; in the southeast Pacific; or in the Indian Ocean.
“Depending on the operational phase of the program, for landings at sea, both Starship and Super Heavy could have: (1) a hard landing at terminal velocity and break up on impact resulting in an explosive event at the surface of the water; (2) a soft water landing and tip over and sink or explode on impact at the surface of the water; and (3) breakup during reentry resulting in debris falling into the ocean,” the FAA said in the document.
The 120-meter-tall Starship has flown six times to date, with its flight cadence gradually increasing over time, except for a longer-than-expected interval between the fourth and fifth tests as SpaceX waited for a flight permit from the FAA.
SpaceX is under pressure to ready a modified version of the Starship spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis III mission, currently targeting September 2026, which will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface.
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
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