Regulators have given SpaceX the go-ahead to launch Starship for the seventh time, although the company has not yet announced when that mission might take place.Β While the exact launch date is unclear, SpaceX engineers have been as busy as ever at the companyβs massive launch site near Boca Chica, Texas. In recent days, the [β¦]
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Elon Musk wants to build a city on Mars β but for now, he may have to make do with one in Texas.
SpaceX has submitted a petition requesting an election on incorporating the company's Starbase launch site as a city, according to a letter sent to local officials on Thursday.
The sprawling rocket facility near Boca Chica, Texas, has been aΒ hub for SpaceX's rocket production since 2014.
Starbase has been the site of some of the company's most high-profile launches, including the recent Starship test flight, which saw SpaceX catch the spacecraft's booster rocket with giant "mechazilla" robot arms.
Musk has been floating the idea of turning the launch site into a city for several years, with SpaceX first approaching officials in Cameron County, Texas, about the plan in 2021.
Holding an election to incorporate Starbase is the next step. In the letter to local officials, Starbase general manager Kathryn Lueders wrote that the goal of the site was to make South Texas "a gateway to Mars."
She said thousands of SpaceX employees work at the launch facility, with several hundred living on-site.
Reposting the letter on X, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the "city of Starbase" will also be the site of the company's new headquarters.
Musk announced in July that he would officially move the HQs of SpaceX and his social media site X from California to Texas.
The billionaire said the move was in response to a California law prohibiting rules requiring teachers to notify parents if a child changes their name, pronouns, or gender identity at school.
Musk has also frequently clashed with local regulators. SpaceX sued the California Coastal Commission after members criticized his political views and denied a request to increase the number of launches in the state.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.
ORLANDO, FloridaβOn Wednesday, Jared Isaacman made his first public appearance since his nomination earlier this month to become NASA's next administrator. Although his remarks were short on specifics, Isaacman endorsed a vision that would signal radical departures from the way NASA does business.
He talked of commercial investment, a thriving space economy, and going fast and taking risks. These talking points are familiar to anyone who has listened to NASA's leadership in recent years, and there has been tangible progress in the agency's partnerships with commercial companies. However, NASA is leaving some commercial expertise on the field, or in this case, on the ground.
"I love all about the commercial space industry right now," Isaacman said in a discussion at the Space Force Association's Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida. "Theyβre all generally doing the same thing, which is putting a lot of their own dollars on the line because they believe in the future that it holds."
Β© John Kraus
As SpaceXβs Starship test program continues to gain momentum, the company signed its second commercial deal to deliver a payload to the moon using a lunar lander variant of the massive vehicle.Β Starship will deposit Lunar Outpostβs rugged rover, called Eagle, to the lunar surface by 2029, the Colorado-based startup said. Lunar Outpost CEO Justin [β¦]
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SpaceX launched its sixth Starship rocket Tuesday, proving for the first time that the stainless steel ship can maneuver in space and paving the way for an even larger, upgraded vehicle slated to debut on the next test flight.
The only hiccup was an abortive attempt to catch the rocket's Super Heavy booster back at the launch site in South Texas, something SpaceX achieved on the previous flight on October 13. The Starship upper stage flew halfway around the world, reaching an altitude of 118 miles (190 kilometers) before plunging through the atmosphere for a pinpoint slow-speed splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
The sixth flight of the world's largest launcherβstanding 398 feet (121.3 meters) tallβbegan with a lumbering liftoff from SpaceX's Starbase facility near the US-Mexico border at 4 pm CST (22:00 UTC) Tuesday. The rocket headed east over the Gulf of Mexico, propelled by 33 Raptor engines clustered on the bottom of its Super Heavy first stage.
Β© SpaceX.
SpaceX conducted the sixth flight test of its massive Starship rocket on Tuesday afternoon, and although the company did not replicate the history-making booster catch, the company did welcome a very special guest: President-elect Donald Trump.Β Trump, who will soon be sworn into office for his second term, said on X that he was headed [β¦]
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SpaceX
SpaceX launched its Starship mega-rocket for the sixth time on Tuesday, but the main event was canceled.
The space company successfully launched the 36-story-tall rocket system but ended up abandoning its plan to catch the Super Heavy booster upon its return to Earth with a giant pair of metal arms, nicknamed "chopsticks."
SpaceX achieved the major feat for the first time in October, during Starship's fifth test launch.
SpaceX
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and CEO, has said his plans of building a Mars city rests on Starship.
The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built, consisting of two stages: a Super Heavy booster at the bottom and a Starship on top.
On Tuesday, Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines roared to life, heaving Starship through the skies.
After about three minutes, Super Heavy released itself and fell back to Earth.
When the catch attempt was called off, the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico nearly seven minutes after launch while Starship continued on toward space.
SpaceX
SpaceX officials said on the company's livestream that the catch wasn't attempted this time because "strict criteria were not met" and this was a known possibility before launch.
During Starship's fifth test flight in October, SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster with aΒ giant pair of metal arms, nicknamed "chopsticks," that caught it before it reached the ground.
SpaceX
Ultimately, Starship is designed to be the first ever fully, rapidly reusable rocket.
SpaceX has been reusing its fleet of Falcon 9 rockets for years, but only the first stage returns for reuse, the second stage is discarded after each launch.
Moreover, the Falcon 9 first stage lands on a barge in the ocean and must be retrieved for reuse, which takes extra time.
Starship is different. Both its first-stage Super Heavy booster and second-stage Starship are designed to be rapidly reusable by returning to the launch site after lift-off.
This is SpaceX's North Star. If the company succeeds, it could make spaceflight 10 times cheaper, and, ultimately, help humanity achieve multi-planetary status.
SpaceX's next major goal is to prove it can consistently retrieve Super Heavy and also retrieve Starship β but that milestone remains for another day.
For this test launch, Starship splashed down in the Indian Ocean as expected about an hour and five minutes after launch.
During its flight in space, Starship fired one of its Raptor engines for the first time, proving a capability it will need during future launches to return and touch down on land.
SpaceX also chose to launch Starship in the afternoon this time instead of the early morning, so that it can better observe Starship's landing, The New York Times reported.
SpaceX
Despite SpaceX not catching Super Heavy on its return to Earth, the test launch is still another successful step toward making Starship viable for orbital flights, moon landings, and eventually long journeys to and from Mars.
Tuesday's flight came just one month after the Starship's fifth test flight. That's a rapid turnaround for such a major test.
Maintaining this fast pace will be critical to achieving Musk's latest goal of sending the first Starships to Mars in just two years.
Another notable development was that President-elect Donald Trump attended the Starship launch.
Ahead of the event, Trump announced on Truth Social that he'd be in attendance, writing, "Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!"
Trump's presence indicates just how influential Musk may become in the next administration, which could be a boon for space exploration.
The sixth flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, set for takeoff on Tuesday from South Texas, will test the vehicle's limits in new ways.
Most importantly, SpaceX will attempt to briefly reignite one of Starship's six Raptor engines in space. SpaceX tried this on Starship's third launch in March but aborted the engine restart after the rocket lost roll control during the flight's coast phase.
A successful engine relight demonstration would pave the way for future Starships to ascend into stable, sustainable orbits. It's essential to test the Raptor engine's ability to reignite in space for a deorbit burn to steer Starship out of orbit toward an atmospheric reentry.
Β© SpaceX
