SpaceX Recovers Remnants of Starship from Australian Shoreline
Starship's recent test flight might not have successfully demonstrated a booster catch, but it did showcase the rocket's upper stage performing a elegant dive into the Indian Ocean. SpaceX retrieved the remnants of its Starship rocket's upper stage from the ocean and gathered hardware for their upcoming tests.
After Starship's launch on November 19 for its sixth integrated flight test, SpaceX towed the rocket's upper stage back to a port on the Western Australian coast. Employees from SpaceX traveled to the Gascoyne region in Australia to collect debris from the rocket's splashdown site, including various tanks, heat-resistant panels, and other metal pieces collected from the water and bagged at the port, as shown in a video by Interstellar Gateway.
Interstellar Gateway, a content creator specializing in SpaceX news and updates, identified the SpaceX vessel responsible for towing the rocket's upper stage by analyzing vessel movement data from all ports in Western Australia.
"This was the first flight we've seen a vessel rigged specifically for towing...leading us to the realization that they may be attempting to return Starship back to port," Interstellar Gateway told Gizmodo in an email. "Upon our investigation during their port operations, we noticed all of the needed lines and rigging materials needed to pull Starship back, as well as a staging area prepped with a crane, ready to remove Starship from the water."
In October, Starship completed its groundbreaking fifth test flight. For the first time, the rocket's Super Heavy 232-foot-tall (71 meters) booster softly descended towards the tower, which caught the rocket with its extended mechanical arms like a giant pair of chopsticks.
Starship's latest suborbital launch aimed to include the Super Heavy booster being caught by the massive Mechazilla tower after reentry. However, about four minutes after lift-off, SpaceX declared the booster catch a failure. Instead, the booster executed a soft, soggy landing off the Texas coast, as not all conditions for a catch were met. In contrast, the Starship upper stage successfully survived reentry and performed a controlled soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX is preparing for the rocket's seventh test flight, hoping to build on previous launches. The company follows an iterative improvement model, so it desires to collect and analyze hardware from its test flights.
"There is only so much data SpaceX can get from Starship via StarLink transmissions as it has always sank shortly after splashdown," Interstellar Gateway explained. "Similar to the valuable data being used from the first caught and intact booster, there are tons of structural and out of view faults that can be found from an intact Starship returning to land."
One of the main things SpaceX is hoping to study using the physical hardware is Starship's ability to withstand the heat of reentry. "The main concern being the heat shield on Starship," according to Interstellar Gateway. "Though there are plenty of sensors monitoring the test tiles and raw areas, having physical tiles that endured re-entry are vital to improving the heat shield overall."
Starship has come a long way since its first launch ended in a mid-air explosion, as SpaceX inches closer to seeing its megarocket fly on a more regular basis.
After analyzing vessel movement data, Interstellar Gateway identified that SpaceX might be planning to retrieve and return the Starship's upper stage to port, as they saw necessary lines and rigging materials for towing. With the future of space travel relying heavily on advancements in technology, SpaceX's collection of hardware from test flights, like the heat-resistant panels from the Indian Ocean, will provide valuable insights into improving Starship's heat shield during reentry, paving the way for smoother and safer space missions in the future.
