SpaceX Starship Launch Coming Soon, But Elon Musk Warns Failures for World's Most Powerful Rocket

Business magnate Elon Musk announced on Thursday that the first orbital flight of the SpaceX's massive Starship rocket could happen soon.

In his first major update on the Starship in more than two years, Musk expressed his optimism that the 390-foot rocket will reach orbit by the end of this year, which hyped the crowd at the spaceport of SpaceX in Texas per NBC News.

Musk targets to deploy a fleet of Starships to bring humans and equipment to Mars to build a colony in the red planet. However, he recognizes the complicated challenges in fulfilling that dream. He said there are possibilities of "few bumps in the road," which his team wanted to address via "satellite missions and test missions" before putting people on the space ships.

"That's the breakthrough that's fundamentally important to change the course of human civilization to become a multi-planet species," he said.

Waiting for Permission

According to Business Insider, the first stage of SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket is yet to take off. Following a succession of dazzling explosions, the futuristic, bullet-shaped steel Starship successfully launched and landed on its own last May. The rocketship flew over a distance of over 6 miles.

According to Musk, SpaceX was able to bring down the cost and weight of the individual Raptor rocker engines by merging parts and modifying the design. He added that the new version of the Raptor engine has improved thrust compared to the first versions.

SpaceX has been diligently working to get Starship ready for launch, but it has only sent early prototypes on a few "hop tests" so far. Musk, per NPR, awaits approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before proceeding with Starship's next phase of going into orbit.

Musk said he expects to get the approval in March. He hopes that the rocket should be ready for launch then as well.

Since then, SpaceX has made remarkable progress. The rocket successfully soared into the sky on May 5, dropped back to Earth, and refired its engines, just in time to flip upright and gently lower itself to the Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic landing pad, after a series of six-mile-high tests flights that ended in an explosion.

However, the booster hasn't yet been included in the rocket's flight.

Rocket Not Failproof

The Super Heavy rocket would launch from Boca Chica and push Starship into orbit for a full orbital test mission. According to a SpaceX FCC filing from May, after circling Earth, Starship would touch down off the coast of Hawaii 90 minutes after liftoff.

Musk has earlier noted that the first orbital launch may not be a success. Musk said he wasn't convinced that Starship would fall into Earth's orbit on its first attempt during a video chat with members of the National Academy of Sciences in November, but that he anticipates SpaceX to do it in 2022.

For now, the initial flights would carry Musk's internet satellites, called Starlinks, into orbit. They have the capabilities to bring high-speed internet service even in remote places on Earth.

Tags

Elon Musk, Spacex, Rocket, Mars, Space