SpaceX launched the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday as the company looks to further develop the behemoth, including a key test of how it deploys satellites.

The company launched Starship from its private “Starbase” facility near Brownsville, Texas, shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET.

Minutes later, the rocket’s “Super Heavy” booster returned to the launch site and landed, marking SpaceX’s second successful “catch” during the flight.

There was no one on the Starship flight. However, Elon MuskThe company is flying 10 “Starlink simulators” in the rocket’s payload bay and plans to try deploying satellite-like objects in space. this is a Key test of rocket capabilitiesbecause SpaceX needs Starship to deploy its larger and heavier next-generation Starlink satellites.

While SpaceX didn’t specify what the Starlink simulator is made of, mass simulators are commonly used in rocket vehicle development and are typically simple metal or concrete structures that weigh about the same as the object in question. Since the rocket has not yet reached orbit, the simulator is expected to follow a similar trajectory to the rocket and is designed to burn up during reentry.

Assuming the launch goes as planned, the Starship will reach space, then fly half a circle around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and landing in the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.

Additionally, the rocket’s “Super Heavy” booster will return and land on the arm of the company’s launch tower after separating from Starship – a feat the company has accomplished fifth flight but Missed the sixth time.

As with every previous flight, SpaceX aims to further advance development by evaluating the Starship’s additional capabilities, including tests of its heat shield tiles and intense re-entry into orbit.

Starship is vital to the company’s plans, even if it Valuation: $350 billion And has occupied a dominant position in the aerospace industry.

Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. Starship, fully stacked on Super Heavy boosters, is 403 feet tall and about 30 feet in diameter. Since April 2023, SpaceX has conducted six spaceflight tests of the complete Starship rocket system, with the frequency of testing steadily increasing.

The Super Heavy booster is 232 feet tall and is the starting point for the rocket’s journey into space. There are 33 Raptor engines on the bottom, which can produce a total of 16.7 million pounds of thrust, which is about twice the 8.8 million pounds of thrust of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. First launch in 2022.

The starship itself is 171 feet tall and has six Raptor engines – three for use in Earth’s atmosphere and three that operate in the vacuum of space.

The rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The entire system requires more than 10 million pounds of propellant to launch

The Starship flying in this launch is labeled Ship 33 and also represents the second-generation version of the vehicle, known as “Block 2.”

SpaceX noted that the vehicle’s “significant upgrades” include changes to the flaps on the vehicle’s nose, a redesigned propulsion system to improve performance, an enhanced flight computer, 30 cameras placed along the vehicle to monitor the rocket, and a reinforced heat shield. .

In addition, the booster for this flight attempt used reused Raptor engines. That engine is flying

The Starship system is designed to be fully reusable and intended to be a new method of transporting cargo and people beyond Earth. The rocket is also critical to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA’s Artemis lunar program.