SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket is still floating in the Indian Ocean, five days after splashing down from its latest flight test.
The world’s biggest rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in southern Texas on Friday, in what was the 13th major test of the Mars-bound spacecraft.
The first-stage booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after lift off, while the second-stage Starship rocket traveled more than 16,000 kilometres to the Indian Ocean.
It was the most successful test to date of the 124-metre-tall rocket, which SpaceX plans to use to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2050.
Starship is also tasked with assisting Nasa on its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years later this decade.
The 13th flight test was seen as a critical demonstration of the spacecraft, proving its reusability by returning to Earth without exploding.
SpaceX said the survival of the second stage was a result of the “softest splashdown we have ever had with Starship in the Indian Ocean.”
A video of the rocket floating off the coast of Western Australia was shared by SpaceX boss Elon Musk, who said that Starship was now ready for the next phase of testing.
“The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms,” he wrote on X.
“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on the next flight.”
SpaceX was also able to deploy 20 next-generation Starlink Version 3 satellites during Starship Flight 13, proving that it can rapidly expand the company space internet network.
No date has been set for the 14th Starship flight test, though SpaceX hopes to have the rocket fully operational by 2027, in time for Nasa’s Artemis III flight.
One of the objectives of the mission will be to rendezvous and dock with the Starship rocket while in orbit.
If successful, the Artemis IV mission will use either Blue Origin’s Blue Moon or SpaceX’s Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon.
The launch date is expected to be in early 2028, though it has already been delayed several times.
