The seventh flight of SpaceX Starship ended in the loss of the ship in space – but Super Heavy was caught by Mechazilla

The seventh test launch of the giant SpaceX Starship rocket took place tonight. The ship of the same name and the Super Heavy booster took off at 16:36 local time on January 16 (01:36 Moscow time on January 17). As part of this mission, an updated version of the Starship itself was launched into space, which is taller and heavier than the previous one.

Image source: Spacex

SpaceX managed to accomplish one of the most difficult elements of launching the Starship rocket – returning the Super Heavy first stage to the launch pad, where it was picked up by a special Mechazilla tower with a special gripper, the so-called “chopsticks”. The booster returned a little less than 7 minutes after takeoff.

Let us remember that SpaceX already managed to do this during the fifth flight, but during the sixth launch something went wrong and they did not dare to put the accelerator on the launch pad; instead, they carefully lowered it into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Now, during the seventh flight, the company managed to repeat the success.

However, success with Super Heavy was overshadowed by the loss of the Starship. It stopped transmitting telemetry shortly after the booster landed, eight minutes after launch. At the time of publication of this note, it is not known what exactly happened to the device. We’ll probably learn more details in a few hours.

The most noticeable difference between the new Starship Version 2 or Block 2 and the first version of the ship is the front flaps of the ship – their size has decreased, and they themselves have moved closer to the nose of the Starship, which will help protect them when the ship enters the atmosphere. This mission carried over 4,700 tons of fuel and oxidizer on board Super Heavy and Starship; The volume of the ship’s fuel tanks was increased by 25%, and ten mock-ups of Starlink communications satellites were placed in the payload compartment. The total height of the rocket reached 123.1 m.

Other changes in Starship Version 2 include:

• Vacuum sheathing of fuel supply lines;
• A new fuel supply system for the ship’s Raptor vacuum engines;
• Improved avionics module with control of ship valves and reading sensors;
• Redesigned navigation and star positioning sensors;
• Built-in smart batteries and power supplies that distribute 2.7 MW of power across the ship’s systems;
• The number of cameras on board the ship has increased to 30.

SpaceX is also developing an upgraded version of the Super Heavy first stage, which will be slightly taller than the current one, but the seventh test flight used a first-generation booster.