SpaceX to Attempt Tower Capture of Starship in Upcoming Test Flight

TapTechNews July 6th, after the last successful Starship test flight, Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX's next test flight will further increase the difficulty, that is, using the robotic arm of the launch tower to complete the capture and recovery of the 'Super Heavy Booster'.

Musk said that SpaceX's fifth orbital test flight mission of Starship (IFT-5) will take place in 4 weeks (early August). It is worth noting that Musk jokingly said in a live stream while playing games that currently the success rate of clamping the Starship with 'chopsticks' is only 20%.

Of course, SpaceX will not take risks to recover it in an unstable situation (the launch pad is much more expensive than the Starship). According to Kathy Leuders, the manager of the Starbase, SpaceX will only make the decision to fly back to the launch pad at the last moment after confirming that all systems are operating normally.

Before the start of IFT-5, SpaceX has begun to test the function of the tower arm by clamping samples to prepare for its tower capture attempt, and will subsequently use this to capture the 232-foot-high booster.

In fact, this tower capture attempt belongs to an industry-first technology. So far, SpaceX still seems to be promoting this key test.

In addition, the official video also shows that SpaceX is preparing for the fifth flight test by building a second launch pad.

Strictly speaking, this attempt to capture the rocket is the most dangerous attempt of the company in all five test processes. If SpaceX fails to prepare well in advance, otherwise an explosion destroys the launch pad, it will lead to the postponement of all subsequent tests and will subject SpaceX to more regulatory reviews (TapTechNews note: the failure of the first flight last year led to severe damage to Launch Pad A, which in turn led to months of project delay).