SpaceX starts ninth test flight of the Starship rocket-new milestone!

SpaceX starts ninth test flight of the Starship rocket-new milestone!

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, SpaceX successfully launched the ninth test flight of his starship rocket. The start took place at 6:36 p.m. local time from Starbase in Texas. In this test, satellite dummies should be brought into space for the first time, which is an important step for the company, which has developed the largest and most powerful space rocket of all time with Starship. The success of this flight could be crucial for the planned Mars mission in the coming year, in which SpaceX invested significant resources, reports Welt .

SpaceX also had to deal with setbacks in his previous tests: four of the eight test flights to date ended with explosions. The last test in March 2025 led to the explosion of the top level, with ruins landing over the Bahamas. The seventh test flog in January also experienced a similar bankruptcy when rubble fell on the Turks and Caicos Islands. These incidents meant that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expanded the airspace by the starting point in an area of ​​1600 nautical miles, which is a doubling of the locking zone compared to previous flights, such as cnn reported.

technical steps for improvement

The studies on the explosions of the previous flights have provided important information. During the eighth test flight in March there was a so-called "flash" on one of the Raptor engines, which led to an "energetic event" and resulted in control over the rocket. This led to the automatic self -destruction of the rocket. The FAA has now found that SpaceX has successfully addressed the causes of these incidents and that the company is ready for the ninth flight. SpaceX will also reuse the lowest rocket level in this test, one step towards a fully reusable system, so Space.com .

To improve the rocket, SpaceX has taken additional measures, including improved insulation to avoid overheating. A new nitrogen rinsing device will also be introduced in future flights to increase the reliability of the engines.

economic importance and future missions

The success of Starship is not only of great importance for SpaceX, but also for NASA. NASA has already paid up to $ 4 billion for two lunar landing missions on SpaceX. The White House is also considering gradually reducing NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and could use Starship as a primary option for future missions into the deeper space. SpaceX positions itself as an inexpensive alternative, whereby the cost of test flights between $ 50 and $ 100 million, each flight could put a lot of strain on other companies, reports CNN .

SpaceX pursues an approach of fast iterative development, in which frequent tests and fast design improvements are the focus. This approach ensures some top -class failures, which the company considers as learning opportunities to further develop the technology. With the successful ninth test flight, SpaceX once again sets a strong sign in the competitive space industry.