Starship V3's Heat Shield Steals the Spotlight on Flight 12
TL;DR
Starship V3's Flight 12 was largely successful and its heat shield performed exceptionally well, with reentry temperatures around 1,450 C and video/images showing a uniform, largely intact shield thanks to new tile geometry and stronger attachment clips. SpaceX will study post-flight data since the vehicle was destroyed on splashdown to validate heat-shield durability for rapid reuse ahead of crewed Moon/Mars missions; meanwhile a separate multi-engine failure during the booster boostback caused a hard splashdown, a problem SpaceX must address before Flight 13.
Topics:businessspace-and-spaceflight#heat-shields#rocket-launches#space-and-spaceflight#spaceflight#spacex#starship
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- SpaceX Starship Flight Test 12 ends with a bang Mashable
- SpaceX launches Starship V3—the world’s most powerful and tallest rocket ever Scientific American
- SpaceX Launches 400-Foot-Tall Rocket That Will Help Define Its Future WSJ
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