Watch plasma build up around SpaceX Starship during its atmospheric re-entry.
Credit: SpaceX
Credit: SpaceX
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TechTranscript
00:30these great visuals.
00:31Now, don't be surprised if we manage
00:33to get some signal hiccups through.
00:35We're still learning about what that wake
00:37will actually look like in practice
00:38and whether we're able to get
00:40that live continuous high-speed data during re-entry.
00:47Yeah, that's right.
00:48And one of the really primary reasons
00:50we wanna use Starlink is to just gather
00:53as much data as possible.
00:54It's been said the data is the payload
00:57on one of these flights,
01:00we're putting this flight hardware
01:02in a real flight environment,
01:03trying to learn about it as much as possible.
01:06Re-entry is gonna be a really critical phase of flight.
01:09We really wanna know how the ship's gonna perform,
01:12especially that heat shield
01:14as we're going through the hypersonic re-entry.
01:16So if something were to go wrong during this re-entry,
01:20we want as many paths as possible
01:21to collect that information, that data,
01:24just to, again, just continually feed back
01:27into the Starship program
01:29to make each flight more reliable, more successful.
01:32Acquisition signal, Mauritius.
01:42Now, if Starship manages to make it
01:44all the way through re-entry,
01:46we'll collect valuable data on Starship
01:48flying through the Earth's atmosphere at hypersonic speeds,
01:51meaning at this point,
01:54we'll be more than five times the speed of sound.
01:58Now, we're watching these live views,
02:02HD views by the looks of it, thanks to Starlink.
02:05You can see that the flaps there on the ship
02:08might be actuating
02:14certainly some incredible visions
02:18of planet Earth behind Starship.
02:21Now, we've already validated Starship's ability to fly
02:25and land at subsonic speeds.
02:28You might recall those suborbital flights
02:30from a few years ago,
02:31and we can see those flaps there.
02:36So getting data on aspects like heating and control
02:39while traveling way faster than we did before
02:42is going to be critical to eventually bringing Starships
02:45back from space for rapid reuse.
02:47So I mentioned those flaps.
02:48That's one of the things that enables Starship
02:52to help control itself and survive the heat of re-entry,
02:56which, like we said before,
02:57we're expecting that re-entry to occur
02:59around T plus 49 minutes.
03:01So we're getting pretty close here.
03:03And what you're seeing here,
03:04it looks like the vehicle is sort of moving back and forth.
03:07Part of what you're also seeing is one of the cameras,
03:10this onboard view that we have, is on the end of a flap.
03:13Starship has front flaps and rear flaps in the vehicle.
03:17So we've got four of those,
03:19and oh man, we can see the heating on those flaps
03:22as we're starting to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
03:24This is where the Earth's atmosphere
03:26is doing the work to slow us down.
03:30Now, like we said, this plasma field is, wow, what a view.
03:34We hope to maintain these views throughout.
03:37Starship is so big that we're hoping
03:40that the plasma field doesn't entirely blanket
03:43the entire vehicle.
03:44Right now, it is not.
03:45The Starlinks are still...
03:46Views brought to you by Starlinks.
03:48Yeah, the Starlinks are still communicating
03:50and still capturing the data
03:52and the video that we see here.
03:54I mean, Shiva, this is just absolutely incredible views.
03:57We've never seen anything like this before.
03:59This is the biggest flying object ever in space.
04:02Absolutely, Kate, and it's important to note
04:05with the ascent burn that we did
04:08was to get us to orbital velocities,
04:10even though we were on a nearly orbital trajectory.
04:13So the heating and the loads
04:15that Starship is going through right now
04:17are what it would be getting
04:19if it were recovering from an orbital mission.
04:22And just the fact that we have views through entry,
04:24this is incredible.
04:25Yeah, again, this is the furthest and fastest
04:29that Starship has ever flown.
04:31And you can definitely tell by the crowd here in Hawthorne.
04:39The heat shield tiles doing their work.
04:41We talked about it earlier, up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit,
04:46that those heat shield tiles are dissipating
04:49as we are reentering.
04:51Yeah, now this was one of the critical,
04:53or rather the key mission objectives
04:56that we were hoping to hit today.
04:58We have never, like I said before,
05:00this is the fastest and furthest Starship has ever flown.
05:03So this is the first time
05:04that we're getting to collect this reentry data
05:06and understand how these 18,000 hexagonal heat shield tiles
05:11are working together to protect the belly of Starship
05:14as it reenters the Earth's atmosphere.
05:17Once again, the atmosphere is doing us a big favor here.
05:21About 80 kilometers altitude.
05:24The atmosphere is actually doing us a huge favor here
05:26by acting as a braking system for Starship
05:29as it reenters the atmosphere.
05:31And that's part of the reason
05:32why the flaps are so important.
05:34We're using the body of Starship
05:37and the drag from the atmosphere
05:39to slow us down from orbital speed.
05:41But you want the vehicle to remain stable.
05:43You want those heat shield tiles pointed down
05:47so they can absorb the heat of the Earth's atmosphere.
05:51And so that's the purpose that they are serving
05:53during the hypersonic phase
05:55and then again during the subsonic phase.
05:57Absolutely.
05:58So like we said, these views are being provided
06:01by a couple of Starlink terminals
06:03that are positioned on Starship itself.
06:07As that plasma builds,
06:08we're hoping that we can bring these views back to you.
06:11But you can see the telemetry there
06:13on the right-hand side of your screen.
06:15If you watch closely, you can see the speed decelerating.
06:18Again, that's the friction of the atmosphere
06:21resulting in this plasma field,
06:23or excuse me, the blanket,
06:25that is potentially blocking
06:27the Starlink terminals right now.
06:29So we'll bring those views back to you if we get them.
06:31But right now, for those of you that have recently joined,
06:34Starship is currently reentering Earth's atmosphere.
06:38This is super exciting
06:39because it's the furthest and fastest
06:41that Starship has ever flown.
06:43It's just absolutely incredible.
06:45Major test milestone,
06:46something we wanted to accomplish on flight two,
06:48getting to it today.
06:49So just awesome.
06:52Now we actually have some heat shields here.
06:54So these are what's doing all the work
06:57on Starship right now.
06:59There are 18,000 hexagonal heat shields like these.
07:03So this one that I have is flat,
07:06like this is what would be positioned
07:07on the flaps of Starship,
07:09whereas Shiva has something a little different.
07:11Yeah, the one I have would be on the curved surfaces
07:15of Starship.
07:16I'll just put it in frame here.
07:17So we've got these attached
07:18at various points around the vehicle.
07:20Like you said, Kate, 18,000 of these tiles around,
07:23and they're doing the work to make sure
07:25that the structure of the vehicle
07:27doesn't carry all that thermal load
07:29so we can recover the vehicles eventually
07:31and get to rapid reuse on them.
07:33They're really lightweight.
07:35They sound a little different
07:37than I would have expected them to,
07:38but they are ceramic.
07:40And these are what's helping Starship survive
07:44through this period of entry.
07:47We're not sure how far we're gonna make it.
07:49Again, this is the furthest that we've gotten
07:51in our test flight,
07:52but the further we fly,
07:54the more data that we can get,
07:55and that's ultimately the measure of success here,
07:58which, I mean, I think today has been a huge success
08:01given where we've gone
08:03and how much further we've gotten
08:05with both the booster and Starship.