Some heat shield tiles were deliberately left out on starship in order to test the ablative backup shielding beneath it. The steering flaps still took some heat damage but like the last flight, landed on target.
The FAA will require at least 3 successfully controlled landings before allowing SpaceX to attempt to catch the starship like the booster. I imagine they will also want to see better heat shield performance. The issue is that unlike the booster which comes in from the ocean, starship comes in from orbit over populated areas. When the space shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry, it rained down debris over 4 US states. It will also need to be redesigned in order to be caught. So, at least one more test flight into the ocean before we see a recovery attempt of starship.
The FAA will require at least 3 successfully controlled landings before allowing SpaceX to attempt to catch the starship like the booster. I imagine they will also want to see better heat shield performance. The issue is that unlike the booster which comes in from the ocean, starship comes in from orbit over populated areas. When the space shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry, it rained down debris over 4 US states. It will also need to be redesigned in order to be caught. So, at least one more test flight into the ocean before we see a recovery attempt of starship.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
