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martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

SpaceX may launch its third full-scale Starship prototype—named Serial Number 10, or SN10—as early as Wednesday from South Texas.

With this vehicle, the company will seek to successfully land the Starship vehicle where the last two versions, SN8 and SN9, each failed in the final seconds of the mission to stabilize themselves for a controlled landing. Both flights ended in fire at the landing site. SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk has estimated about a 60 percent chance of success this time—which suggests the probability is a little bit higher than that, given his penchant for setting expectations.

Similar to the previous two flights, which took place in December [arstechnica.com] and early February [arstechnica.com], SpaceX will launch its Starship vehicle to an altitude of about 10 km under the power of three Raptor engines. There, it will switch from its main propellant tanks to smaller ones near the top of the vehicle and perform a "belly flop" maneuver, reorienting itself to simulate returning from orbit. This allows Starship to both bleed off velocity as well as ensure its reusability without a massive heat shield.

The challenge will be to successfully reignite at last two of the three Raptor engines near the ground to slow the vehicle's descent and make a controlled landing. There will be guaranteed entertainment, regardless.

SpaceX has already received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for this launch, and the window opens at 9am (15:00 UTC) local time in South Texas. As always, preparatory activities will likely delay the test further into the window, and there may be unplanned holds or the need to de-tank and refuel as part of the test program. But the weather looks excellent, with clear and sunny skies in South Texas.

Straight from the SpaceX website [spacex.com]:

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As early as Wednesday, March 3, the SpaceX team will attempt a high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 10 (SN10) – our third high-altitude suborbital flight test of a Starship prototype from SpaceX’s site in Cameron County, Texas. Similar to the high-altitude flight tests of Starship SN8 [youtube.com] and SN9 [youtube.com], SN10 will be powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN10 will perform a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

The Starship prototype will descend under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps are actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enable precise landing at the intended location. SN10’s Raptor engines will then reignite as the vehicle attempts a landing flip maneuver immediately before touching down on the landing pad adjacent to the launch mount.

A controlled aerodynamic descent with body flaps and vertical landing capability, combined with in-space refilling, are critical to landing Starship at destinations across the solar system where prepared surfaces or runways do not exist, and returning to Earth. This capability will enable a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration, interplanetary flights and help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.

There will be a live feed of the flight test available here that will start a few minutes prior to liftoff. Given the dynamic schedule of development testing, stay tuned to our social media channels for updates as we move toward SpaceX’s third high-altitude flight test of Starship!

Previously:
2021-02-03: Putting the Latest Starship Crash Into Perspective [soylentnews.org]
2020-12-08: Attempt #2 of Spacex 12.5 km Test Launch of Starship SN8 Went Boom! [Updates 4] [soylentnews.org]
2020-12-02: SpaceX's First Crewed Mars Mission Could Launch as Early as 2024, Elon Musk Says [soylentnews.org]

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