SpaceX conducted the second test flight of its Starship rocket, which ended in an explosion.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet business is growing, with 2 million subscribers and interest from the military.
The company attempted hot-staging for the first time, a maneuver unprecedented for a rocket of this scale.
SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company led by Elon Musk, recently conducted the second test flight of its Starship rocket, the largest ever built. Despite a malfunction that led to self-destruction, the test was considered an improvement over the first one. The event was captured by Scott Ferguson of Astronomy Live using a telescope from the Florida Keys. Ferguson had planned the shot for a couple of years and used a predictive tracking feature that uses trajectory predictions from the website FlightClub.io. SpaceX has requested the video footage for their own analysis.
The second launch saw the company attempt hot-staging for the first time, a maneuver unprecedented for a rocket of this scale. The upper stage Starship successfully ignited its Raptor engines before detaching from the booster, which simultaneously powered down all but three of its engines. Despite the explosion, SpaceX considers the test flight a success as all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster started up successfully and completed a full-duration burn during ascent.
In addition to its Starship project, SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet business is growing, with 2 million subscribers and interest from the military. However, competition is increasing, with Amazon's Kuiper satellite-internet system passing in-orbit tests and OneWeb operating a fleet of 630 low-flying satellites. Amazon hopes to gain an advantage with cheaper consumer hardware and integration with Amazon Web Services.
SpaceX has contracts with NASA worth over $4 billion to develop Starship for ferrying astronauts and supplies to the Moon. Elon Musk announced that hardware for the third Starship test flight is expected to be flight-ready in approximately three to four weeks.
The event was captured by Scott Ferguson of Astronomy Live using a telescope from the Florida Keys.
Ferguson had planned the shot for a couple of years and used a predictive tracking feature that uses trajectory predictions from the website FlightClub.io.
SpaceX has requested the video footage for their own analysis.
The second launch saw the company attempt hot-staging for the first time, a maneuver unprecedented for a rocket of this scale.
The upper stage Starship successfully ignited its Raptor engines before detaching from the booster, which simultaneously powered down all but three of its engines.
Elon Musk announced that hardware for the third Starship test flight is expected to be flight-ready in approximately three to four weeks.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet business is growing, with 2 million subscribers and interest from the military.
Competition is increasing, with Amazon's Kuiper satellite-internet system passing in-orbit tests and OneWeb operating a fleet of 630 low-flying satellites.
Amazon hopes to gain an advantage with cheaper consumer hardware and integration with Amazon Web Services.