In its last update on Flight 5, SpaceX announced that the Starship (Ship 30 + Booster 12) is ready to fly and the only thing holding the launch is the regulatory approval by the FAA.
However, after monitoring the activities at the company’s Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas during the last week or so — SpaceX performed a considerable amount of work on the Mechazilla (Tower 1) Chopsticks arms.
The Starship launch tower Chopsticks arms have been in operation since 2022. Until the Flight 4 orbital launch test, these Chopsticks were only used to lift Super Heavy rocket boosters onto the orbital launch mount (OLM) and then lift the 2nd stage Starships onto the boosters for integration.
With Flight 5, SpaceX does not only want the Chopsticks to help with the Starship integration but also to catch the 1st stage Super Heavy booster (Booster 12) on landing. Therefore, SpaceX performed the upgrades and reinforcements on the Chopsticks to bear the load of a landing Super Heavy booster (report and video below).
Starbase Launch Tower 2
SpaceX also completed the construction of the 2nd launch integration tower (Tower 2) at Starbase last week. As we can see in the pictures above and below, Tower 2 has now been fully stacked standing at the same height as Tower 1.
In the following official photo by SpaceX, we can also see that a lightning rod has been installed on Tower 2. Although it doesn’t show the nettings on the sides of Tower 2, we can see some of them in the pic above that was taken later on. SpaceX has been installing the nettings during the last week. Tower 2 has been fully stacked but it’s not yet ready to integrate Starships as it needs its own Chopsticks, QD arm, and related mechanisms before becoming functional.
Flight 5 Booster Catch on Landing
SpaceX upgraded the Tower 1 Chopsticks in anticipation of the Flight 5 landing catch of the Super Heavy Booster 12 rocket. The US spaceflight company’s CEO Elon Musk has shared the following animated illustration of this catch several times and even just recently on X (Twitter).
Currently, this animated demo of the Super Heavy catch-landing is the best depiction we can witness because this can’t be experimented with before a launch and landing test. Flight 4 Super Heavy booster landed vertically in the [Gulf of Mexico] but this time SpaceX wants to see a historical landing by catching the booster on its way back.
If this experiment becomes successful in the upcoming Starship Flight 5 test, Super Heavy will be the first big rocket to be caught this way in the history of spaceflight.
Chopsticks Improvements and Upgrades
Throughout last week, SpaceX performed the following major upgrades to overhaul and prepare the Chopsticks to catch the Flight 5 booster on landing.
- SpaceX workers removed the stoppers from the Chopsticks. These stoppers prevent the Chopsticks from closing too far apart.
- Different components and objects were added to the Chopsticks to make the launch successful. Since NasaSpaceFlight observers only viewed these upgrades from the outside, it’s difficult to tell what these components specifically are.
- Two Chopstick tanks were removed and SpaceX installed a replacement tank but the other replacement was not caught on video (watch below).
- SpaceX performed reinforcement welds across the Chopsticks to handle the massive load while catching the landing booster.
- SpaceX workers were also seen working on the QD arm’s hood.
- 10 crane lifts were seen working around the Tower 1 Chopsticks.
- Padding was also installed on Chopstick arms. This most probably will help with better handling of the booster and add crumple zones while catching it in mid-air.
Since there is no similar experiment done previously, there is no data available to tweak the faults. However, what SpaceX can do is prepare for the best and still expect a failure that will provide experience and data to make further improvements for future rockets and Starship catches on landing.
Like the previous Starship orbital flight tests, success is not guaranteed but excitement sure is. Stay tuned as we cover the events on the road to Flight 5 and main day coverage as well.
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