SpaceX has transported its Starship spacecraft to the launchpad in preparation for a scheduled flight test on November 18.
Elon Musk’s rocketeers posted images on the billionaire’s social media mouthpiece, X, showing the “Ship” portion of the stack headed to the launch tower. Clearly visible beneath the S31 numbering of the ship was what is likely a reference to that old engineering joke: a banana for scale.
We at The Register maintain our own Standards Bureau, which is internationally recognized by absolutely nobody. While SpaceX has opted for the banana, which equates to around one linguine, we’d suggest popping an Osman – just over 13 bananas in size – on the side of the Ship to further highlight the scale of the hardware.
Oddly, SpaceX did not respond to our suggestion.
Before launch, Ship 31 will be stacked atop booster 13. Since SpaceX has already performed a static fire, launch preparations should consist of little more than checkouts, filling the tanks with fuel, and lighting the engines.
The sixth flight test of SpaceX’s monster rocket will be very similar to the fifth, which featured a memorable catching of the Super Heavy Booster by the “chopstick” arms of the launch tower as it returned to the launch site. SpaceX hopes to repeat the catch while the Starship upper stage is sent to space, and then a controlled splashdown in a targeted area in the Indian Ocean.
There are, however, a few changes, although not enough to require a modification to the launch license. SpaceX wants to assess new secondary thermal protection materials on Starship and has also removed entire sections of heat shield tiles, which will increase the mass of the payload that can be carried by the spacecraft once it is operational. While there are no reusability plans this time, SpaceX will also have Starship descend at a higher angle of attack to gather data for future landing profiles and push the envelope on flap control.
The launch window has also been moved and will open for 30 minutes at 1600 CT (2200 UTC). The intention is that the Indian Ocean splashdown will be in daylight, making it easier to track and observe the descending upper stage.
Bigger changes are due from the seventh flight test, with upgrades including larger propellant tanks and a new generation of thermal protection tiles.
As for the banana imagery on the side of the upper stage, the heat of reentry is likely to leave it somewhat scorched. ®
