Will it explode or won't it explode? SpaceX is set to launch the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, Starship, again on Saturday, November 18, after a first launch that ended in a gigantic explosion in the spring.

This second test flight by SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk's company, will be closely scrutinized by NASA, which is counting on this spacecraft for its future missions to the Moon.

The giant 120-meter-tall rocket is due to tear itself off from the ground at 7 a.m. local time (13 GMT) on Saturday, during a 20-minute launch window, from SpaceX's Boca Chica base in far south Texas, United States.

On April 20, Starship lifted off for the first time in its full configuration. But several engines had failed. SpaceX then deliberately detonated the rocket after four minutes.

Photographers set up remotely controlled cameras at the Starship liftoff site on Nov. 17, 2023, in Boca Chica, U.S., U.S. © Timothy A. Clary, AFP

The take-off had propelled a cloud of dust several kilometres from the launch pad, which was itself heavily damaged. Chunks of concrete had been catapulted by the power of the engines, and a fire had broken out in a nearby regional park.

The U.S. aviation regulator (FAA) had opened an investigation, before finally giving the green light on Wednesday for a second flight.

Read alsoSpaceX's Starship rocket explodes, and Elon Musk rejoices?

Within seven months, the launch pad was rebuilt, and a water "deluge" system was installed and tested. These waterspouts spilled when the engines are ignited are intended to attenuate acoustic waves, limiting vibrations.

Groups are separately suing the FAA, accusing it of misjudging the environmental impact of the new rocket. "We are concerned that this second launch will once again create significant environmental damage," Jared Margolis, a lawyer with the NGO Center for Biological Diversity, told AFP.

An "almost complete circumnavigation of the Earth"

The rocket is made up of two stages: the Super Heavy propulsion stage and its 33 engines, and the Starship spacecraft, placed above it and which by extension gives its name to the entire rocket. During the first test, these two stages failed to separate in flight.

In this satellite photo released by Maxar Technologies, SpaceX's Starship rocket stands on its launch pad on November 17, 2023 in Boca Chica, United States. © Maxar Technologies via AFP

The separation system has therefore been changed, Elon Musk said at a conference in early October, adding that testing this system would be "the riskiest part" of the second flight. "I don't want to raise too high hopes," the SpaceX boss warned.

The flight plan is the same as in April: the spacecraft is to attempt to make an "almost complete circumnavigation of the Earth" and splash down in the Pacific, off the coast of Hawaii, the billionaire described. The spacecraft will not technically reach Earth orbit, but will be "just below".

For the company, the explosion of prototypes is less problematic in terms of image than it would be for NASA and its public funds, according to experts. Carrying out a series of tests according to a rapid iteration process allows it to accelerate the development of its machines.

The Moon and Mars in the crosshairs

But the development of Starship does not seem to be fast enough to stick to the plans of the American space agency, which has contracted with SpaceX. A modified version of the spacecraft is to be used as a lunar lander to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

This mission, named Artemis 3, is officially scheduled for 2025 – a date that seems increasingly unrealistic.

Beyond the Moon, Elon Musk wants to make Starship "a generalized means of transport to any destination in the solar system," including Mars. Its goal is the establishment of a self-sustaining colony on the Red Planet, in order to make humanity a multiplanetary species.

SpaceX's Starship rocket on its launch pad on November 16, 2023 in Boba Chica, U.S., France. © Timothy A. Clary, AFP

If Starship's size is "absurd," he said, it's because building a "permanent base on the moon and a city on Mars" requires carrying millions of tons of payload.

But the real innovation of Starship is that it must be fully reusable, with both stages designed to eventually return to land on their launch pad – thus reducing costs. Only the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is currently being recovered.

Starship is both larger than NASA's new megarocket, SLS (98 m), which took off for the first time a year ago, and the legendary Saturn V, the rocket of the Apollo lunar program (111 m).

Starship's takeoff thrust is also about twice as powerful as these two launchers.

With AFP

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