Elon Musk’s SpaceX company announced on Friday that it intended to lead a new flight test for its megafusée Starship at the end of next week. The latter, intended to go to the moon and Mars one day, had crossed a black series of tests marked by explosions.
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This tenth flight of the largest rocket ever designed must be held as soon as possible on Sunday, August 24 since the base of the American company in Texas, announced the latter on its site.
He will follow three trials this year during which SpaceX has undergone multiple technical disappointments.
The first two had been marked by the spectacular explosion at the start of the flight of the upper floor of the rocket, the vessel, causing twice the rains of debris above the Caribbean.
At the end of May, the starship vessel had this time managed to reach space this time but had ended up exploding before its scheduled end of the mission, after a fuel leak made it lose control.
The rocket propeller had suffered the same fate, disintegrating before touching the water. He had to fall back into the Gulf of Mexico and not to be caught up in mechanical arms, a spectacular maneuver that only SpaceX masters.
These incidents are far from unpublished because Elon Musk’s company is betting on a risky strategy: the launch of multiple prototypes in order to correct the problems encountered in flight situations.
But this succession of disappointments, to which was added in June an explosion during a ground test, gives rise to questions on the real advance in the development of starship, while Elon Musk continues to count on first launches around March 2026.
The richest man in the world, known for his very optimized forecasts, is counting on this megafusée to carry out his crazy project of “colonization” of the red planet. And a modified version must also be used for the NASA Artémis program, which provides for the return of Americans to the Moon, with the aim of maintaining this time a lasting presence.
The development of starships, the first flight test of which was held in April 2023, could however accelerate, SpaceX having obtained a green light from the American aviation regulator to increase its rate of launch and Donald Trump having urged his government to lift administrative brakes to commercial space activities.