2024.11.7 English

2024.11.7 Newspaper

——hsy8116

powered by Typora

Topic

Today, I'd like to talk about SpaceX's Starship. Though Martin has talked about this topic before, it's so meaningful that I would like to say something more.

Basic Introduction

The latest news is that Starship had its fifth flight test in November, which is also called Integrated Flight Test 5. I'd like to share more details with you about this flight.

Starship Vehicle

First, let's get to know something about the vehicle. The Starship vehicle includes the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster. And it's about 121 meters tall. The Super Heavy booster has 33 Raptor engines, each of them can produce 230 tons of thrust.

The Launch Event

On the launch day, the fully stacked rocket rose into the air in the morning light. When it was about t + 2 minutes and 50 seconds into the flight, the rocket performed the stage separation. Then the first stage, also known as the booster, did a boost back burn and made its way back to the launch site, while the second stage, also known as the Starship spacecraft, lit six Raptor engines and headed towards space.

About seven minutes into the flight, the booster returned to the launch site. When the altitude was about one kilometre, it lit up 13 engines to slow down its velocity. Five seconds after that, it used its three core engines to guide its way to the tower. The booster kept adjusting its angle and correctly landed with the help of the tower's arm. Fifty minutes later, the upper stage performed the re-entry and finally landed safely on the Indian Ocean.

Meanings

This marks the first time for SpaceX to recycle both of the vehicles.

Reasons for Recycling

So why is SpaceX eager to recycle and reuse the rocket? You can imagine that building a very tall rocket needs lots of material. But by reusing the rocket, you can just add propellant to support each flight and save more time and money. Only then can the rocket industry develop more rapidly. So we really can say that SpaceX is far-sighted.

China's Action

Now let's look back to China. These years, Chinese space companies are developing rapidly. Take LandSpace as an example. It is the first company to launch a liquid oxygen and liquid methane /ˈmeθeɪn/ rocket in the world. It is even earlier than SpaceX. So from this we can see that our socialist system is conducive /kənˈduːsɪv/ to promoting rapid development. Let me give you another example, SpaceX was founded in 2002. And in 2012 it first successfully recycled a rocket booster, which took ten years. And twenty years after it was founded, it finally built a very large rocket. However our Chinese companies have only been founded for a few years, but some of them have already tested the recycling ability of their rockets. So from this you can see how powerful and competitive our Chinese companies are. With the help of the advantage of our socialist system, I believe our country can finally achieve the goal of prosperity /prɑːˈsperəti/ and development , and our nation can finally realize the Chinese Dream.