🌕Starship’s hypersonic reentry and China’s historic Moon mission

It’s been a massive week for space news.

China successfully collected the first samples of lunar rocks and soil from the far side of the Moon. The Chang’e-6 mission is now on its way back to Earth, and it could teach us a great deal about the early formation of the Moon and our planet.

Boeing’s crewed Starliner mission finally took off as well, after many delays. The capsule suffered hydrogen leaks and thruster outages as it made its way to the International Space Station (ISS). However, the two crew members are safe, and the capsule is now safely docked at the ISS.

Finally, Starship flew for the fourth time this week and it survived hypersonic reentry, allowing it to perform a soft splashdown over the Indian Ocean. Let’s look at the detail below.

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AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SPOTLIGHT

China’s historic far side lunar sample mission

China has collected the very first rock samples from the far side of the moon.

The country’s Chang’e-6 mission started its return journey to Earth to deliver the first lunar rock and soil samples from the moon’s far side.

The mission has already made history by becoming the first to launch a spacecraft from the far side of the moon. It will make history again if it successfully carries its samples back to Earth.

According to a mission update from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on June 4, the ascent vehicle carrying the samples successfully entered the designated lunar orbit shortly after lifting off from the moon.

The Chang’e-6 mission was launch in May and it landed on the far side of the moon on Sunday, June 2. It touched down on the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is estimated to have formed over 4 billion years ago.

The mission used a drill and robotic arm to scoop two kilograms of surface material from the lunar surface. This sample was carefully sealed in a metal vacuum container within the ascender module of the spacecraft.

TChina’s space agency used a relay satellite to maintain contact with the Chang’e-6 probe at all times. China is the first country to have sent two missions to the far side of the Moon.

After lifting off from the lunar surface, the Chang’e-6 probe then set off to rendezvous with the reentry capsule orbiting the Moon. The return capsule will take roughly three weeks to get back to Earth with the samples. It is expected to land in the desert of China’s Inner Mongolia area around June 25.

AERO BULLETIN

A recap of Starship’s integrated flight tests so far

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket launched for the fourth time this week on Thursday, June 6. SpaceX’s fast, iterative design approach means it will likely launch Starship again as soon as next month.

Every time it has flown so far it has gone further than before, achieving new milestones in the process. Here’s a recap of what SpaceX has achieved so far..

Starship IFT-1: An explosive start to the Starship era

The first launch of the fully integrated Starship launch system, IFT-1, took place on April 20, 2023. The rocket cleared the launch pad, but it soon started spiraling before the first stage could detach from the upper stage.

SpaceX was forced to trigger a manual explosion, to prevent the rocket from causing more damage on the ground.

Starship IFT-2: A successful hot-staging separation

IFT-2 was able to perform a successful hot-staging separation, allowing the upper stage to soar higher into the sky. The upper stage was lost shortly afterward.

Hot-staging separations involve igniting the engines on the upper stage of the rocket while it’s still attached to the lower stage. To make this possible, SpaceX installed a “vented interstage” and a heat shield to the top of the Super Heavy first stage.

Starship IFT-3: Orbital velocity and a hard splashdown

During IFT-3, Starship finally reached orbital velocity, meaning it was able to soar around Earth. For the purposes of this mission, it didn’t quite reach orbit, though it was able to from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas to the Indian Ocean in just under an hour.

SpaceX hoped to perform a reentry burn and a soft splashdown over the Indian Ocean. However, attitude control issues meant it was not possible. Impressively, SpaceX’s Starlink internet allowed the company to livestream the fiery moments before Starship crashed into the ocean.

Starship IFT-4: Surviving hypersonic reentry

This week’s IFT-4 mission set out to achieve what the previous flight test could not. Once again, Starship flew to the skies and performed a hot-staging separation. This time, the interstage was jettisoned shortly after launch to reduce weight. Super Heavy then came down for a soft splashdown in the Pacific.

Roughly an hour after launch, Starship descended through Earth’s atmosphere. Once again, SpaceX live streamed incredible footage as the rocket was engulfed in a ball of fiery plasma. Though one of the fins started falling apart during descent, SpaceX confirmed that Starship had successfully performed a soft splashdown over the Indian Ocean.