In our previous article we explored how space missions like Polaris Dawn are driving breakthroughs that enhance healthcare on Earth. Today, I want to shift gears and talk about something just as crucial: creativity and thinking beyond the boundaries of traditional education.
On October 13th 2024, SpaceX made history with an engineering marvel—the first-ever “chopstick” capture of the Super Heavy booster. This bold innovation is just one example of how SpaceX has reshaped the space industry in ways once thought impossible. From affordable reusability and pinpoint drone ship re-entry landings to high-tech spacesuits with enhanced dexterity, the company has redefined what it means to explore beyond Earth. They’ve also pioneered the commercialization of space, developed the world’s largest spacecraft, Starship : capable of carrying 150 metric tonnes when reusable and 250 metric tonnes in expendable mode, and launched Starlink, bringing global connectivity closer than ever.
What sets SpaceX apart isn’t just its achievements but its philosophy—test, fail, learn, and improve. By embracing failure as part of the process, they accelerate success, teaching us a powerful lesson in persistence and innovation.
In this post, we’ll dive into the key technological advancements behind the success of Starship’s fifth test flight, exploring the ideas and innovations that continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in space exploration.
Reusability and Mechazilla
Starship’s fourth test flight achieved two major milestones: the successful booster landing and Starship’s reentry, despite a damaged nose flap. Starship’s fifth test flight marked a breakthrough in rocket recovery, as it was the first time the Super Heavy booster was captured by Mechazilla—a chopstick-like mechanism attached to the launch tower.
The booster was caught using two arms equipped with shock-absorbing rails, which locked onto the pins on the booster. This innovation reduces the need for heavy landing legs, minimizing weight and vibration dampening requirements. It highlights SpaceX’s progress toward full reusability, cutting down costs and increasing efficiency.
Along with the booster recovery, Starship successfully executed a soft water landing in the Indian Ocean. Its heat shield was redesigned with an ablative layer to improve thermal management during reentry. Throughout descent, the vehicle faced peak heating and peak aerodynamic drag, relying on reaction control thrusters and actively controlled flaps for precise maneuvering. Although improved, the flaps showed signs of minor burn damage from hot gases during reentry.
The test flight concluded with a belly-flop maneuver, slowing the spacecraft for a controlled dramatic splashdown. Watch the video below, streamed live via Starlink, to see the entire launch and landing sequence.
Watch Starship's Fifth flight test https://t.co/LVrCnTv797
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2024
New age Raptor Engines
In any rocket, a large portion of the weight comes from the propulsion system, which provides the force needed to escape Earth’s gravity. Propulsion relies on a chemical reaction between an oxidizer and a fuel.
In SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, the Merlin engines use liquid oxygen (LOX) at -183°C as the oxidizer and RP-1 (a refined form of kerosene) as the fuel, which stays at room temperature. These engines follow an open-cycle gas generator design, a method that dates back to the 1940s. While this system has been reliable, it had limitations for SpaceX’s long-term vision of deep space travel, including missions to Mars.
With Elon Musk’s ambition to build a reusable and efficient space system for interplanetary travel, SpaceX developed a new class of engines: the Raptor engines. The Raptor uses a full-flow staged combustion cycle, meaning that both the methane fuel and oxygen are pre-burned before entering the combustion chamber, making it more efficient and powerful. Additionally, Raptor engines use methane and oxygen instead of RP-1, which is ideal for Mars missions since methane could potentially be produced on Mars through a process called in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).
Each Raptor engine generates twice the thrust of a Merlin engine, improving the performance of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle. Starship is equipped with six Raptor engines:
- Three standard Raptor engines optimized for use in the lower atmosphere.
- Three Raptor Vacuum (RVac) engines, specially designed for high efficiency in the vacuum of space.
This new engine design not only reduces weight and enhances efficiency but also ensures rapid reusability, a key feature for SpaceX’s vision of sustainable space exploration.
Here’s a video of Elon Musk himself explaining the Raptor engines in detail:
With the aim of achieving maximum reusability, SpaceX is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, paving the way for affordable and sustainable space travel that will eventually take us beyond Earth, to Mars, and beyond.
Full flow stage combustion cycle rocket engines were developed in 1959 th in Soviet Union.
Hello Mr. Anatoli Borissov,
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I appreciate the clarification and will be more specific next time. My intent was to highlight the shifting mindset in rocket design, particularly how innovations like SpaceX’s full-flow stage combustion cycle are driving new advancements in space engineering, especially when compared to the more traditional designs used in previous NASA rocket engines.