What is Starship, the largest and most potent rocket to be launched today?

SpaceX is set to launch its Starship spacecraft into space in its first test flight, marking a crucial milestone in Elon Musk’s efforts to bring humans to far-off destinations such as Mars. The launch is the first major test of the company’s deep-space rocket Starship and is 20 years in the making. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to other planets, and it will be the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of generating 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The 120-meter-tall rocket system will have two parts: the Super Heavy, a massive rocket booster, and a spacecraft to carry passengers and goods into space. The Starship system can lift between 150 and 250 metric tons of cargo to Earth orbit, allowing heavier payloads, such as the company’s new, larger Starlink satellites, to make it into space.

The first Starship test flight, scheduled for 18 April 2022, is critical, as SpaceX needs to prove that the spacecraft can fly before it can use it to execute on Musk's vision of making humanity multi-planetary. The rocket has the ability to function as a crewed rocket, crewed lander, rocket fuel tanker, and satellite dispenser. It is also designed to be fully reusable, making it relatively inexpensive to operate. After giving SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to assist NASA in getting there, the agency now intends to use the Starship as part of its own plan to go back to the moon.

Starship’s first test flight will take place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, where the company has been mass-producing prototypes for the past five years. The rocket system’s architecture is complicated and untested, with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft designed to come back to Earth and land intact on the surface. However, their landing techniques are unconventional, with two giant mechanical arms extending outward from the launch tower to “catch” the vehicles before they touch the ground.

No people or cargo will be on board for Starship’s first test flight, which will take less than three minutes after launch for the Super Heavy booster to separate from Starship and fall back to Earth for a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico, with no plans for recovery. Starship will start its own engines to accelerate the spacecraft closer to orbital speeds as it travels through space. Starship’s engines will cut off roughly nine and a half minutes after launch, and the vehicle will cruise around the Earth, reaching a peak altitude of approximately 146 miles. Starship will then come back through the planet’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean. This test is meant to demonstrate that Starship and Super Heavy can separate as planned and that Starship can reach orbital velocities before returning back to Earth.

Read more: In a first, scientists create fiery solar flares in a lab to solve major Sun mystery