Elon Musk's reusable booster-stage rockets represent a significant step forward for space exploration and a technological milestone that has captured attention across the space industry and the wider international community.
Catching a massive rocket the size of a building, perfectly in a pair of robotic arms as it falls back to Earth is no small feat and marks the fifth successful test flight for the uncrewed Starship rocket.
The fully reusable rocket landing in the mechanical arms of the tower, affectionately known as "chopsticks", succeeded on its first attempt and is critical for making transport to the moon and Mars economically viable.
Securing the landing on the first try is rare for SpaceX, which typically adopts a maverick-like experimental attitude toward research and development, often smashing and exploding components multiple times to collect as much real-world data as possible. This approach contrasts sharply with NASA's methodology in previous decades, which focused on meticulous preparation through blueprints and simulations – a painstaking process from which modern space research appears to diverge.
The new approach seems to be yielding results. Starship is the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever built to successfully enter space, providing more than 74 meganewtons of thrust. To put this into context, that is around 700 times more powerful than even the fastest commercial jet.
Earlier this autumn, SpaceX also achieved the first-ever civilian spacewalk, innovating a new type of spacesuit that is both thinner and more flexible than previous designs, allowing individuals to step out of the shuttle and gaze down at the Earth below.
SpaceX's ongoing success suggests the company's plans to launch a finalized version of Starship, which will provide utility for itself, its customers, and the United States government.
Semi-reusable rockets, like the Falcon 9, have already reduced costs by a tenth and a fully reusable ship like Starship is expected to drive costs down even further making the current technological advances the most significant in space travel since the 1960s.
Other companies are catching up, with Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos, developing reusable rocket prototypes alongside various Chinese startups that are all planning to launch in the next year or so.
However, none are close to SpaceX's trajectory or experience, which has accumulated during 300 return launches' worth of data since 2015.
It will still likely take some time before a fully reusable rocket enters operational capacity because SpaceX's Starship must first prove it can safely turn its engines on and off in space, and that it can enter and exit orbits before safely returning to the landing tower. Just how reusable the rockets actually are also remains uncertain; internal reports from the recent successful landing suggest the flight was close to a crash-landing because of pressure issues inside the rocket.
The pace of test flights is quickening, and there is significant pressure to resolve issues as rapidly as possible. NASA schedules require Starship launches on a weekly basis once operational, to fulfill mission objectives across many of their programs. However, it is Musk's schedule that is fueling the current drive to the cosmos. The technology billionaire's dream of settling on Mars begins with a planned five uncrewed Starship launches toward the Red Planet in 2026, with crewed missions planned for shortly thereafter.
At this rate, it is likely that many of us will see a man on Mars within our lifetime, something that would have been inconceivable just 15 years ago during the stagnant, state-run space shuttle program. The privatization of space exploration has proved to be an exciting prospect, however the regulation of such rapid progress must be maintained.
Questions have been asked about SpaceX's environmental pollution and falling debris, and the matter of sovereignty over celestial bodies currently relies on outdated United Nations charters and laws, many of which were designed for maritime scenarios. The upcoming US election will be pivotal in determining the future trajectory of SpaceX's endeavors, with Musk a staunch Donald Trump supporter.
