History has been made! The private aerospace company SpaceX, founded by the visionary Elon Musk in 2002, has once again made history. SpaceX has been breaking records since its inception. From the reusable rocket, ‘Falcon 9‘, to the most powerful rocket on earth, ‘Starship‘, and the revolutionary ‘Droneship‘, the company recently achieved a remarkable feat by catching the Starship rocket heavy booster mid-air using a chopstick-like mechanism that SpaceX called ‘Mechazilla‘.
SpaceX shared the videos of the launch and the catch on X, leaving people in awe. “Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to catching the Super Heavy booster. Thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with a catch on our first attempt,” said SpaceX in the post.
Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to catching the Super Heavy booster. Thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt. pic.twitter.com/6wa5v6xHI0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
On October 13, 2024, SpaceX conducted the fifth uncrewed flight test of the Starship rocket from Boca Chica, Texas, near the Mexican border. The Starship is the most powerful rocket on Earth. It is a two-stage rocket with a super-heavy booster and a Starship spacecraft. Both stages are equipped with SpaceX’s high-tech Raptor engines.
SpaceX has conducted four flight tests of the Starship rocket since April 20, 2023. However, the most recent flight test was exceptional as the company attempted to catch the super heavy booster mid-air using a set of mechanical arms, or “Mechazilla.”
In previous flight tests, the super heavy booster landed in the sea, which was less efficient as engineers had to retrieve the booster from the sea, bring it back to land, and then repair it for the next flight test. This new approach revolutionizes the space exploration industry by making reusing rocket boosters more time and energy efficient for future launches.
To further improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the company decided to build mechanical arms on the launch tower that would catch the super heavy booster mid-air, and it was successful! The super heavy booster was caught using Mechazilla and returned to the launch site.
This is a significant achievement not only for the company but also for the entire human race. It marks the beginning of a more efficient era of space exploration, as NASA and SpaceX aim to send humans to the Moon again through the Artemis mission and eventually to Mars using the Starship rocket.
