Super Heavy booster focus of SpaceX's 9th launch

STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Now that SpaceX has the green light to go airborne again with its Starship rocket, the question remains: What is new about this launch?

As previously reported by ValleyCentral, SpaceX aims to launch its ninth starship rocket on Tuesday with a launch window opening at 6:30 p.m.

This flight will mark the first launch of a flight-proven Super Heavy booster. The Super Heavy booster is the first stage of the Starship rocket system and has been designed to be fully reusable.

In previous flights, SpaceX has emphasized the goal to have the Super Heavy booster caught by the chopsticks back at the launch site. During Starship's seventh flight test, the booster launched and returned, a reuse milestone for the company.

This time, the goal is different.

Additionally, Super Heavy will fly a variety of experiments aimed at generating data to improve performance and reliability on future boosters

"The Starship upper stage will repeat its suborbital trajectory and target objectives not reached on the previous two flight tests, including the first payload deployment from Starship and multiple reentry experiments geared towards returning the vehicle to the launch site for catch," the SpaceX website stated.

One of the experiments, aimed at gathering real-world performance data, is the controlled flip after stage separation.

This will be achieved by blocking several of the vents on the vehicle’s hotstage adapter, causing the thrust from Starship’s engines to push the booster in a known direction, the SpaceX website reads.

Toward the end of its descent, or landing burn, SpaceX will attempt to demonstrate unique engine configurations. For those who don't speak space engineering talk, this means that of the three center engines on the Super Booster used in the final stage, SpaceX will intentionally turn off one to collect data on the ability for a backup engine from the middle ring to complete a landing burn.

The booster will then transition to only two center engines for the end of the landing burn. The shutdown is planned to occur above the Gulf of Mexico before it splashes into the water.

To see what is happening live at the launch site visit LabPadre.