Video capture of the explosion of a prototype of SpaceX's Starship rocket during its landing, December 9, 2020. -

(Youtube / Space)

Weather permitting this Wednesday evening, SpaceX's latest Starship prototype will be launched from the Boca Chica base in Texas (United States).

The purpose of the spacecraft is to send human beings to Mars.

The objective of this new launch is to see if the device will come back whole, reports RTL.

Elon Musk's company wants to fly it up to 12.5 kilometers altitude.

This will be the second suborbital flight of this rocket.

The first test took place two months ago, on December 9.

The SN8 had risen to more than 10,000 meters, had changed its altitude position to descend flat and cut the engines, before returning to the vertical to land on its base.

The finally caught fire and crashed because of its too high speed.

Trips to the moon

SpaceX's business model and its space expeditions are only viable if the rockets are reusable, hence the importance of this next test.

If SN9 came back whole, the company would still have work to do before it could go to Mars, RTL recalls.

It would first need to complete construction of its first prototype Super Heavy, the main stage of the rocket.

The latter must be equipped with 30 motors.

It would then have to be stolen.

Elon Musk hopes to reach his goal by 2026. By then, Starship could be used for trips to the moon.

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