Starship IFT-5 Launches With a Catch

The Flight

At 7:25 AM CDT on October 13th, 2024, the fifth Integrated Flight Test (IFT-5) of SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle lifted itself from its Orbital Launch Mount at Starbase, Texas. The highly anticipated test flight had a few key objectives, such as putting an adjusted heat shield on Starship 30 through its paces, but its most critical goal was to verify the unique recovery method of the Super Heavy booster: catching it with the launch tower. To this end, IFT-5 was successful, with Booster 12 resting safely on the launch tower’s arms just under seven minutes after leaving the ground. Some captured images imply Booster 12 may be a little worse for wear, and it’s unclear if the 232-foot booster remains flight worthy, but nonetheless the basic architecture has been demonstrated. IFT-5 continues off of IFT-4 being the first completion of a fully integrated Starship’s flight plan, potentially representing a positive turning point towards the program’s ambitions. 

Meanwhile, Ship 30 experienced reentry over the Indian Ocean, following in the footsteps of Ship 29 on IFT-4. Ship 30’s heatshield was modified by the addition of an underlying layer of ablative material (the shedding of which may be the cause of ‘sparking’ seen during reentry) in response to burn-through issues encountered during Ship 29’s reentry. Ultimately, this addition resulted in an overall cleaner reentry than the previous flight; however, burn through was still observed on at least one of Starship’s forward flaps. Despite this, Ship 30 was able to light its engines and perform a flip maneuver, allowing it to touch down in the Indian Ocean. Following splashdown, Ship 30 fell sideways and promptly exploded, which was captured by a camera buoy. The presence of the buoy implies a fair degree of precision with Ship 30’s landing, not unlike that demonstrated by IFT-4’s booster, which also had its landing captured by a pre-positioned buoy.

The Catch

When Space Scout reported on the last Starship flight, we pointed out the steady decrease in downtime between each successive flight. Unfortunately, this trend has been broken, with the leadup to IFT-5 taking 15 days longer than the leadup to IFT-4. Ultimately, while this is an apparently minor factor, it does play into the big picture – rapid turnarounds are necessary for Starship to complete its internal goals and contractual obligations to NASA’s Artemis Program. The primary cause of this could be the extensive rounds of testing required to modify and verify the systems on the launch tower responsible for conducting the catch operation–which SpaceX refers to as “Mechazilla.” 

The two massive arms, sometimes called chopsticks, which extend from the tower had to be upgraded to enable the fast and precise movement which allowed for a successful catch. Previously the arms had only seen use for slow-moving lift and stacking operations for the Super Heavy and Starship vehicles. This series of testing required substantial time and work, and delayed the integrated testing of Ship 30 and Booster 12 significantly. SpaceX over the intervening months between the fourth and fifth flight had their own explanation for the slight increase in downtime, which will be touched on later.

On to Flight 6

Much as Booster 12 returned itself to whence it came, those following the Starship Program may also find themselves back to a familiar condition. As with every flight prior, the primary question on everyone’s mind is what comes next. Starship certainly has its work cut out for it, with potentially less than two years to go ahead of Artemis III and a gauntlet of objectives still ahead. Notably, while work has continued between flights to enable recoverability of both stages, in-space demos like those conducted on IFT-3 have not yet returned. One of these, the in-space Raptor engine relight, is especially critical to Starship’s future. 

The completion of an in-space engine relight is necessary before Starship can reach true orbit and begin conducting a slew of objectives required under the HLS Contract, such as long-duration spaceflight and ship-to-ship fuel transfer. Reaching orbit is also, of course, necessary for Starship to begin operating as a commercial service capable of deploying payloads into space.  If the relight objective is to be completed on IFT-6, then the first stable orbit accomplished by the system will come no earlier than the system’s seventh flight test.

Should plans for the sixth test flight, IFT-6, remain as planned, the program’s latest launch license will enable it to be conducted as well. However, this license makes no mention of any coast-phase experiments or demonstrations. It is currently expected that IFT-6 will be a repeat of IFT-5 without any major additions to the flight profile. Operations to remove Booster 12 from the launch tower so it can be more thoroughly analyzed are already underway.

The Other Catch

Notably, Starship’s latest launch came with a metaphorical catch as well. A new evaluation was required to enable the execution of the booster catch, a flight profile not covered by previous launch licenses. But the license for IFT-5 arrived sooner than expected: prior to SpaceX’s first claims of an October 13th launch, both SpaceX and the FAA concurred that a launch license was unlikely to arrive before late November. 

The reason for this prior estimate relates to a controversy the Starship Program found itself in the midsts of over the summer. Reportedly, ahead of the system’s third integrated flight test, the Environmental Protection Agency sent SpaceX a Notice of Violation regarding the operation of the water deluge system which suppresses the energy of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 engines during launch. Both IFT-3 and IFT-4 proceeded regardless, with SpaceX being accused of knowing violation of the Clean Water Act. SpaceX has staunchly defended themselves against these claims both on the company’s X page and website, but ultimately SpaceX was required to pay an approximate total of $150,000 in fines for the apparent offenses.

Whether or not SpaceX is indeed at fault as accused, the company’s latest launch license includes several new additions. “SpaceX must conduct its licensed activities in accordance with the representations made in its license application and must comply with all applicable Federal, Tribal, State, and local environmental laws, regulations, and standards in carrying out its license activities,” reads one such addition. To summarize, in the license which enabled IFT-5 to occur, the FAA has absolved itself of any responsibility in the event that future environmental allegations are brought forward against the aerospace giant in regards to its Starship Program. Now it is SpaceX’s duty going forward to ensure that all activities are conducted within the bounds of regulation, not the FAA’s. This offloading is potentially the reason for the sudden acceleration of the licensing process.

This decision, perhaps even more so than the booster catch, marks a decision point for the program. Should SpaceX move forward, working to coordinate with local authorities on ensuring its activities are conducted completely within the bounds of environmental law, there is potential for an extremely swift execution of IFT-6 to cap off Starship’s 2024. On the flip side, should SpaceX be found in violation of these laws again, it would represent a violation of its launch license which could incur a range of penalties. The bottom line is, in terms of moving forward on the engineering, operation, and legality of the Starship Program, the choice on what comes next is now entirely SpaceX’s own.

Conclusion

IFT-5 was a significant step forward for Starship as a viable fully reusable launch system. Catching Booster 12 safely is a feat which shouldn’t be understated, as reusability is critical to Starship’s future. It is SpaceX’s duty to ensure they maintain current momentum. Even now, it could still be argued that the basic launch vehicle architecture is only step one towards the system’s various ambitions. A balance of engineering progress and environmental consciousness must be found to prevent major setbacks; at this moment, SpaceX is one step closer, but the company can’t waste time celebrating. Much excitement has been felt and much remains on the path forward, but the road to the Moon and someday Mars is long, winding, and ever more challenging.

Edited by Beverly Casillas and Emily B.