Despite receiving a radio-spectrum license, Space X must first clear a few legal hurdles before launching its planned mission. As a result, the projected flight will not take place this month.
FCC Says Space X Should Pass Regulatory Barriers Before Launching an Orbital Test Flight
August will not see the launch of SpaceX's Starship's maiden orbital test mission.
According to a radio-spectrum license application that the business submitted with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), SpaceX is aiming for a six-month window that opens on September 1 for the much-awaited mission.
According to the Twitter account FCC Space Licenses, which monitors such matters, the license was awarded on Wednesday, August 10. However, before Starship can get to the launch pad, it must overcome a few more legal obstacles.
The Starship orbital test mission, which will launch from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, reportedly still doesn't have a launch license. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which just completed a thorough environmental review of Starship operations at the site, is responsible for issuing launch permits.
Super Heavy, a massive first-stage rocket, and Starship, an upper-stage spaceship at 165 feet tall, are both Starship components. Both components (six for Starship and 33 for Super Heavy) are reusable and will be propelled by SpaceX's newest Raptor engines.
Booster 7 and Ship 24 will fly the next orbital mission together. SpaceX has started preparing both prototypes for the job; on Tuesday (August 9) at Starbase and the corporation conducted "static fire" engine tests with both spacecraft.
On Tuesday, just one of Booster 7's 33 engines and two of Ship 24's six Raptors were fired. Even if everything were legal, the mission was never likely to launch in August.
However, Artemis 1, NASA's first lunar exploration mission, is slated to launch on August 29. It will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a Space Launch System rocket for a six-week trip to lunar orbit and back.
SpaceX's Latest Super Heavy Rocket is Back on the Launch Pad
The most recent iteration of SpaceX's enormous Super Heavy rocket has been wheeled back to the launch pad.
For testing, which is reportedly taking place right now, the Booster 7 Super Heavy rocket prototype was transferred to a launch pad at SpaceX's South Texas facility overnight on Friday, August 5.
On August 6, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, tweeted about the achievement. He tweeted a picture with the caption, "At launch pad," and then added, "I adore the scent of hydraulic fuel in the morning.
For the first-ever orbital test flight of the program, which SpaceX hopes to fly in the coming months, the corporation is working to prepare Booster 7 and its Starship upper-stage spaceship.
Super Heavy, a first-stage booster, and Starship, an upper-stage rocket standing at 165 feet (50 meters), are included in Starship.
When wholly stacked, the combined height of Starship and Super Heavy, 395 feet (120 meters), makes them the highest rocket on the globe. For NASA, SpaceX intends to utilize the stacked system to launch people and cargo to the moon before continuing to Mars.
However, Starship has only conducted a few high-altitude test flights, and the system hasn't flown since May 2021.
