UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2023) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the chances of making it to orbit with a second spacecraft are much higher, but it all depends on stage separation.
"Probability much higher than the last one. Maybe it's like 60%. But it depends on how well we do at stage separation," Musk said in Twitter spaces.
SpaceX has made a "tremendous amount of changes" and there have been about a 1,000 of them so far, he added.
One of the biggest changes was the way stage separation works. Musk introduced what he called "hot staging," in which the upper stage lights up while the booster's first stage is still on, and the ship's engines start at the same time. Musk explained that this process was mainly used by the Soviets on their rockets.
On timing, Musk said that launchpad updates and boosters will be ready in about six weeks.
In April, the first Starship spacecraft was launched atop a Super Heavy rocket booster and was expected to separate before continuing its ascent into space. However, the historic launch ended in an explosion after the Starship prototype suffered multiple engine failures, triggering the vehicle's abort system. The result was not considered a failure, however, as Musk said the Primary goal was to lift off, not destroy the launch pad.
