Next Starship flight: SpaceX targets March 14 with 17 rocket upgrades.

Next Starship flight: SpaceX targets March 14 with 17 rocket upgrades.

The third test flight of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, according to information shared on SpaceX’s official profile on the social network “X”, formerly known as Twitter. To date, Starship has performed two test missions, both from SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas. Both were intended to send the rocket’s upper stage almost completely around the Earth, with a planned landing in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. However, that didn’t happen either time. After successfully passing a propellant-loaded countdown test, both the Booster 10 booster and Starship 28 spacecraft are ready for liftoff, marking a major milestone after the second launch incident in November.

Following the separate explosion of the Booster 9 and Starship 25 rocket stages on the previous launch, SpaceX proposed 17 corrective actions to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and has implemented seven changes to the Super Heavy booster and ten to the Starship spacecraft. The FAA closed its investigation in late February, accepting the proposed modifications and anticipating approval of the rocket’s flight licence in mid-March. Among the improvements made to the Super Heavy booster are new filters and panels that reduce liquid movement during stage separation. In addition, the oxidizer tanks have been strengthened, and the filtration process refined.
As for Starship 28, it has been equipped with fire protection upgrades, propellant leak reduction and a new electronic thrust vector control system to improve in-flight control and analysis of the engines. Despite SpaceX’s confidence in the success of the third flight, CEO Elon Musk notes an 80% probability that Starship will reach orbit, something it has yet to achieve on previous flights. The most critical part will be the re-entry, where SpaceX will have to demonstrate the effectiveness of the heat shield formed by thousands of slabs.

s octogonales de cerámica, especialmente después de observar desprendimientos en vuelos anteriores.

The live broadcast of the launch is scheduled for 11:30 UTC on Thursday, March 14, giving viewers the opportunity to witness an event that could mark a crucial step in the evolution of space technology. SpaceX’s original post about the launch date https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1765437449717841991