SpaceX is retrieving debris from the Starship crash site, with a potential opportunity to recover the entire spacecraft in one piece. The company’s latest suborbital test flight ended in a splashdown off the western coast of Australia, but experts say there could be valuable data hidden in the wreckage.
Retrieval Mission: SpaceX Scoops Up Pieces of Starship After Ocean Impact
Breaking Things Down
There’s always something you can learn from failure. Sometimes failure looks like your rocket blowing up after crashing into the ocean – but it’s a learning opportunity nonetheless. In the case of SpaceX, that means retrieving the watery remains of said rocket, Starship, to determine what went wrong during the less-than-perfect performance of its latest suborbital test flight.
Retrieval Crews in Action
SpaceX employees traveled to the waters off the western coast of Australia, where the rocket’s upper stage splashed down, to collect the debris. These efforts were documented by SpaceX-focused content creator Interstellar Gateway, which gathered footage of the crews dredging up some of the spacecraft’s hardware, including heat shield tiles and various tanks.
A Deeper Look
But there could be more than meets the eye. Based on Interstellar Gateway’s sleuthing, the next retrieval mission could bring back the entire spacecraft in one piece. “This was the first flight we’ve seen a vessel rigged specifically for towing… leading us to the realization that they may be attempting to return Starship back to port,” Interstellar Gateway told Gizmodo. “Upon our investigation during their port operations, we noticed all of the needed lines and rigging materials needed to pull Starship back, as well as a staging area prepped with a crane, ready to remove Starship from the water.”
Explosive Progress
SpaceX stunned the world with its fifth orbital flight test of Starship in October. After reaching space, the rocket’s lower stage, the Super Heavy booster, made a controlled descent down to the Earth’s surface, guiding itself back to its launch tower where it was caught midair by a pair of mechanical arms – an astonishingly precise feat of engineering.
Safe and Sound
Besides the reusability factor, there’s a huge incentive for SpaceX to recover the Starship spacecraft in one piece. “There is only so much data SpaceX can get from Starship via StarLink transmissions as it has always sunk shortly after splashdown,” Interstellar Gateway told Giz. “Similar to the valuable data being used from the first caught and intact booster, there are tons of structural and out of view faults that can be found from an intact StarShip returning to land.” With any luck, that’ll soon be the case. The next Starship launch is reportedly slated for no earlier than January 11 next year – so keep an eye out.
