In the past few days, the full Wet Dress Rehearsal found a few problems that cause it to slip out in time. What was originally set for this Friday, May 15, has now slipped out to next Tuesday, May 19, at the same time, 6:30 PM EDT.
The whole aim of this launch is to switch over to the biggest and latest version of Starship, the raptor engines and everything else, all of which seems to be lumped together in calling it version 3. The version 3 stack is a new record for the tallest rocket ever, 408 feet, which is on the order of 10 feet taller than the previous versions of Starship which have already flown.
If all goes according to plan, this is the version of Starship that SpaceX will use to begin experimenting with in-orbit refueling, a capability engineers must master before sending ships anywhere farther than low-Earth orbit. In the near-term, refueling will enable Starships to fly to the Moon to serve as landers for NASA’s Artemis program. Starship remains an iterative development program, and new versions are in the pipeline, but Starship V3 should mark a step toward SpaceX actually using Starships in space, rather than solely proving they can get there and get home.
The "new and improved" version 3 is essentially a slight upgrade - or rather several slight upgrades all at once.
On Monday, SpaceX’s launch team loaded more than 11 million pounds (more than 5,000 metric tons) of super-cold methane and liquid oxygen into both stages of the rocket after halting a previous fueling attempt Saturday night due to a technical issue. The launch rehearsal followed a test-firing of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines at the launch site on May 6, the first time SpaceX ignited a full complement of uprated Raptor 3s.
At liftoff, the rocket is expected to produce some 18 million pounds of thrust, about 10 percent more than the previous generation of Super Heavy boosters, according to specifications previously released by SpaceX. The scale is staggering. For example, in Version 3, the internal transfer tube that channels methane fuel from the top of the booster to the engine compartment is about the same size as the first stage of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which is roughly 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter.
Among the "first time" and "new" aspects of the version 3 is it will be the first launch from Pad 2 in Texas. Pad 2 is about 1,000 feet, so not quite a quarter mile, west of pad 1 where all of SpaceX’s past Starship test flights launched. Not a big difference.
The preparations for launch are essentially complete, with just a couple of things left to accomplish.
On the SpaceX side, workers must install hardware for the rocket’s self-destruct system, pyrotechnics that would blow up the vehicle if it deviated from its flight plan. This will require the removal of the ship from the booster. A launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration is still pending.
SpaceX's Starship V3 rocket undergoes a WDR - wet dress rehearsal - Monday at Starbase, Texas. Image credit: SpaceX.
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