Monday, October 14

Elon Musk's SpaceX pulled off a spectacular feat yesterday, catching a returning rocket in the air with two mechanical arms.

Starship, the rocket executing the mission, is almost 400 feet tall with a width of around 29.5 feet, and holds a payload of 100 to 150 tons. It is considered the most powerful launch system ever created, and the company expects the rocket to be able to hold up to 100 people on long flights to the Moon, Mars, and even other planets in the solar system. So far, Starship has always taken off from Starbase, a large facility in southern Texas designed specifically for rocket launches.

Starship separates into two phases: the Super Heavy booster and the spacecraft. While the design of the spacecraft varies from time to time, the Super Heavy booster is the primary part of the rocket that propels it into space, and is usually extremely expensive. The Super Heavy booster burns natural gas and liquid oxygen to power the engines, which consume over 20 tons of fuel per second. However, boosters on most rockets normally go to waste, plummeting down to Earth after they have been used. SpaceX has derived a solution to that, though, and it was executed perfectly on Sunday.

Early on Sunday morning, SpaceX launched the fifth test of their Starship rocket, with the craft taking off around 7:30 am. It proceeded to separate over the Gulf of Mexico after moving eastward, with the spacecraft blasting out into space and the rockets continuing within the atmosphere. However, no one was watching the spacecraft-- rather, everyone kept their eyes glued to the Super Heavy booster as it used its 33 Raptor engines to turn back towards Starbase.

From there, it blasted down towards Earth at supersonic speeds, eventually slowing down as it approached the launch site. As it arrived, a large tower, named Mechazilla, utilized two large arms, dubbed "chopsticks" to catch the Super Heavy booster on its descent. Before the rocket hit the ground, it lowered into the arms of Mechazilla, which closed in on it, and then shut off the engines, leaving the rocket hanging between the "chopsticks" at around 200 feet off the ground.

People around the world, including the United States' space organization of NASA, were stunned by the eye-catching landing, and it is a massive step forward in the space industry. Allowing rocket boosters of that size to be reused will save millions of dollars, as fuel is left as the only cost to send the booster back into space. SpaceX owner Elon Musk stated that the goal was for the company to be able to massively reduce the turnaround time of the boosters-- they plan to land a booster at Starbase, refuel it, and have it ready to go in a matter of hours, rather than weeks.

Meanwhile, while the booster returned to Starbase in a mere seven minutes, the actual spacecraft stayed in orbit for around 40 minutes. It cruised across multiple continents before re-entering the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, where it splashed down exactly where it was supposed to and later disintegrated, as expected.

As mentioned above, Starship has been tested several times prior to Sunday's flight. The first two tests resulted in midair explosions, preventing a booster return, and while the third flight was successful, the Super Heavy booster and the ship disintegrated before splashdown. On the fourth flight, the spacecraft experienced flap issues but managed to splashdown around 4 miles from its target location. However, the Super Heavy booster successfully splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico with staggering accuracy, landing just half of a centimeter away from the target. This motivated SpaceX to make the decision to test the next landing at the tower and use Mechazilla-- they had achieved the accuracy needed to land in between the "chopsticks."

Next, SpaceX has several launches coming up in 2025, the closest of which will have a flight plan similar to that of the latest launch. Musk has also stated that he aims to start landing the actual spacecraft back at Starbase next year, allowing the entire rocket to be reused. They are currently building a new launchpad near the existing pad, and they hope to open up two other launchpads soon in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Meanwhile, a massive new factory in the Texas facility is under construction, named Starfactory, and it is expected to be able to produce boosters and spacecrafts on a weekly basis once complete.

Upcoming Events:

• International Day of Rural Women (Tuesday, October 15)

• World Food Day (Wednesday, October 16)

• World Track Cycling Championships Begin (Wednesday, October 16)

• Sukkot Begins (Wednesday, October 16)

• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Thursday, October 17)

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): A male duck is called a drake.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first. (Steve Irwin)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Ideate (verb)- To ideate is to form an idea or conception of something.

In a Sentence: Jocelyn used the education seminar's lunch hour to talk with other teachers and ideate new activities to use in the classroom.