Okay, so you know SpaceX’s Starship? That massive rocket Elon Musk is building with the dream of taking us to Mars? Well, their last couple of test flights didn’t exactly go to plan. If you’ve been following along, you’ve probably seen the news about those earlier attempts. It’s all part of the wild ride that is developing a completely new space vehicle.
SpaceX isn’t shying away from the fact that those previous flights had some serious issues. In fact, they’ve been pretty open about it. The primary reasons for the failures in the earlier test flights, like the one on November 18, 2023, and the one before that, often came down to issues with the separation of the Super Heavy booster from the Starship upper stage, and subsequent RUDs (Rapid Unscheduled Disassemblies – a fancy way of saying they blew up).
For the November flight, a fire broke out in the aft section of the booster shortly after launch, and control was lost during the boostback burn. Then, during the Starship stage separation, something went wrong, and it appears the vehicle broke apart. It’s a tough break, but that’s why they do these tests – to learn.
So, what’s SpaceX doing about it? They’re doing what any good engineer would do: redesigning and iterating. They’ve been hard at work making changes to the Starship and Super Heavy booster based on the data from these flights. One of the most noticeable changes you might have heard about is a radical redesign of the fins on the Starship itself. Earlier designs had actuated fins that were quite complex. Now, they’re moving towards a more traditional, fixed set of fins, likely to simplify the system and improve reliability. They’re also reportedly upgrading the plumbing and hardware for the Raptor engines and making changes to the overall structural integrity.
With another launch drawing near – and honestly, who knows when exactly the next one will be, as these things are fluid – the focus is on making sure these fixes address the root causes of the previous failures. It’s a massive undertaking, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in rocketry. Learning from every launch, even the ones that don’t end perfectly, is key to eventually achieving their goal of making Starship a reusable and reliable way to travel to space, and eventually, Mars.
It’s a reminder that innovation, especially in space exploration, is rarely a straight line. It’s full of trial, error, and a whole lot of learning. I’m really curious to see how these new changes play out on the next test flight. What are your thoughts on the redesign?