Starship's eleventh flight delivers a perfect final exam result. Has Elon Musk finally reaped rewards from his "money-burning gamble"?

SpaceX conducted the eleventh test flight of the Starship, which is called the “ultimate trial” for the journey to Mars.

This attempt to push the spacecraft to its limits will determine SpaceX's next step, whether it will be the third - generation, or the third - generation plus or pro version.

The “Super Heavy” booster used in this test flight is not a brand - new piece of equipment. It is a “veteran” that previously carried out the eighth test flight mission, using the first - stage booster B15 - 2 and the second - stage spacecraft S38. Among the 33 Raptor engines of the booster, 24 are mature products that have been recovered and reused. This configuration of “second - hand equipment going on a new mission” is in itself a practical test of rocket reuse technology.

So, what are the missions and challenges of the eleventh test flight of the Starship? How will Musk plan his next move? Does Starlink's mobile phone project have to bring “Apple” to the negotiation table? Below, enjoy:

01

The “Graduation Exam” of the Second - Generation Starship

In this test flight, the first - stage booster B15 - 2 and the second - stage spacecraft S38 were used. Putting 24 “second - hand” Raptor engines on the test flight shows SpaceX's pursuit of the ultimate performance of the engines.

The second - generation Starship, known as the “graduation exam”, aims to: for the first time, achieve the complete process from “full” launch to returning to Earth without disintegrating or exploding, so that it can preserve its complete structure and be recovered.

This “self - imposed” flight test has many variables and also brings highly anticipated new tasks.

On the eve of the Starship launch, the U.S. federal government was still in a shutdown deadlock. The commercial launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was particularly important. The fact that the shutdown did not mean “complete suspension of work” brought hope and uncertainty to SpaceX's launch license.

If additional materials need to be provided temporarily, the slow process will slow down the current and even subsequent intensive development rhythm of the Starship.

The Starship has not had a good record of punctual launches in the past: the eighth test flight was aborted, and the tenth test flight was delayed due to weather, making every test flight nerve - wracking.

The possibility of a punctual ignition has become another highlight of industry predictions besides the mission results.

Fortunately, on October 14, the FAA issued the commercial launch license as scheduled, giving the onlookers a shot of reassurance and allowing them to continue watching the special mission of the “graduation exam”.

The mission list of the eleventh test flight of the Starship is full of SpaceX's aggressiveness and rigor. Different from the conventional space missions that pursue “perfect success”, this test flight is more like a targeted “stress test”, with each link centered around the core goal of “paving the way for the V3 version”.

The mission process can be divided into three key stages, each carrying unique test objectives:

(1) Booster Power and Recovery Test: The “5 - Engine Trial” of Full Hover and Second - Hand Equipment

The “Super Heavy” booster used in this test flight is not a brand - new piece of equipment. It is the “veteran” B15 - 2 that previously carried out the eighth test flight mission. Among its 33 Raptor engines, 24 are mature products that have been recovered and reused. This configuration of “second - hand equipment going on a new mission” is in itself a practical test of rocket reuse technology.

B15 - 2

The core test of the booster is concentrated in the landing phase: after separation during the ascent, the booster will first restart 13 engines to adjust its attitude, then switch to 5 engines to enter the critical deflection control phase, and finally use 3 central engines to complete the landing ignition, achieving full hover above the Gulf of Mexico and then shutting down and splashing. This is also a highly anticipated highlight of this mission.

Compared with the previously commonly used 3 - engine deflection scheme, the 5 - engine configuration can provide stronger redundancy. Even if an engine shuts down suddenly, it can still maintain trajectory control. This is the core technology tailored for the third - generation booster.

It is worth noting that this time, the booster is not planned to be recovered in the air by the “chopsticks” robotic arm of the launch tower. Instead, it will adopt a conservative sea - splashdown method. This adjustment will simulate the operation of the V3 Super Heavy. When B15 - 2 triggers the AFTS self - destruction and disintegration procedure, it will mean the successful completion of this mission.

(2) In - Orbit Mission of the Starship: From Satellite Release to Engine Re - ignition

As the core carrier of the mission, the Starship will complete a number of high - difficulty operations during sub - orbital flight. First is the payload deployment test. The spacecraft will release 8 payload simulators with exactly the same size as the next - generation Starlink satellites. These simulators will follow the spacecraft on the sub - orbital trajectory flight and will eventually burn up when re - entering the atmosphere.

This link is directly related to the reliability of the Starship in future commercial satellite launch missions and is also a key indicator for SpaceX to verify its “low - cost access to orbit” ability.

Even more technically challenging is the in - orbit engine re - ignition test. The spacecraft will restart a Raptor engine in space. This seemingly simple action places strict requirements on the fuel supply system and the engine start timing control. In a microgravity environment, the propellant tends to float in the tank, which may lead to unstable fuel supply to the engine or even engine shutdown. This technology is the foundation for future orbital refueling and deep - space navigation.

(3) Extreme Test of Re - entering the Atmosphere: The Insulation Test of “Deliberately Showing Weakness”

If the first two tasks are “regular assessments”, then the test during the re - entry phase can be called “self - imposed hardship”.

The engineers deliberately removed some of the heat shields of the spacecraft, and there was no backup ablation layer in some of the missing areas, deliberately exposing the vulnerable surface without protection. The purpose of this “naked - running” test is to verify whether the spacecraft can still withstand the thousands of degrees of high temperature generated by atmospheric friction in extreme situations, such as accidentally losing heat shields during flight.

To make the test more valuable for reference, the spacecraft S38 will also perform a dynamic tilt maneuver to simulate the real flight path of returning to the Texas launch site in the future, and adjust its attitude through a subsonic guidance algorithm, and finally splash down in the Indian Ocean. The trans - oceanic flight trajectory from the Gulf of Mexico to the Indian Ocean covers different latitudes of the atmospheric environment, providing more comprehensive test data for the insulation system and the guidance system. It is also a verification and preparation for preventing yaw at low speeds in the V3 version.

02

The Ultimate Optimization List for the V3 Starship

The farewell flight of the second - generation Starship hits the pain points more directly.

From the heat shield falling off during the ninth test flight to the landing damage during the tenth test flight, each iteration of the Starship addresses the problems exposed in the previous missions. As the finale of the V2 version, the eleventh test flight brings together the technological improvement results of SpaceX in the past year. Four major upgrade directions are particularly crucial.

(1) Insulation System: The “Plastic Wrap Technology” Solves an Age - Old Problem

The heat shield problem used to be a “major headache” in the Starship test flights. In previous missions, the gaps between the tiles were prone to cause high - temperature gas leakage, leading to overheating and damage to the local structure. The S38 Starship in this test flight uses the new “plastic wrap technology”, which completely seals the gaps between the tiles with special materials, fundamentally blocking the penetration path of high - temperature gas. During the transportation in September, people could clearly see that the heat shield on the surface of the spacecraft was smooth and neat, with almost no splicing marks. It was evaluated by space enthusiasts as “the most reliable Starship insulation system in history”.

The test of deliberately removing some heat shields is actually a “stress test” of this improved system.

SpaceX engineers said in an interview with “Ars Technica” that only the insulation performance verified under extreme conditions can support the long - journey of the future Starship returning from Mars to Earth. Although the Martian atmosphere is thin, the re - entry speed when returning to Earth will far exceed that of near - Earth orbit missions, and the redundancy of the insulation system is crucial.

(2) Power System: The “Reliability Evolution” of Reused Engines

The reuse technology of the Raptor engines will undergo a key verification in this test flight. The 24 reused engines have undergone a comprehensive disassembly and overhaul, with a focus on optimizing the turbine pump sealing structure and the fuel nozzle cooling system - these two parts were the high - incidence areas of previous engine failures. Through the actual verification in the eighth test flight, the thrust attenuation rate of these reused engines is controlled within 3%, fully meeting the mission requirements.

More importantly, there is a technological breakthrough in the 5 - engine landing configuration. Through thousands of ground simulations, SpaceX found that the coordinated operation of multiple engines can significantly reduce the load on a single engine and extend its service life. Data shows that the attitude control accuracy of the 5 - engine scheme is 40% higher than that of the 3 - engine scheme, and it can still maintain a stable trajectory under the harsh condition of a 15 - meter - per - second wind speed. This provides a technical reference for the future landing of the Starship on the Martian surface.

(3) Launch Turnaround: The “Challenger” of the 37 - Day Record

From the transfer of the Starship to the launch pad on September 18 to the planned launch on October 14, the launch turnaround cycle of this mission is only about 26 days, far exceeding the previous 37 - day record held by SpaceX. Behind this is the comprehensive optimization of the launch process: on the one hand, the static fire test was compressed to be completed within two days, divided into two rounds: single - engine ignition (simulating space restart) and six - engine joint adjustment (testing landing control), with an efficiency improvement of 50%. On the other hand, a new mechanical positioning device was used in the docking process of the booster and the spacecraft, reducing the docking time from the previous 8 hours to 3 hours.

The improvement of the launch turnaround speed is directly related to the control of space costs. According to the public data of SpaceX, for every day the turnaround time is shortened, the launch cost can be reduced by about 1.2%. A 26 - day turnaround cycle means that the single - launch cost is expected to be reduced to the level of tens of millions of dollars, only 1/10 of that of traditional heavy - lift rockets.

(4) Structural Design: The “Technical Hint” for the V3 Version

Although the protagonist of this test flight is the V2 Starship, many details of the spacecraft have revealed the design concept of the third - generation model. During the transportation in September, the engine layout at the tail section of the Starship was slightly adjusted, getting closer to the “engine integration” design concept of the third - generation Starship. The 5 - engine landing scheme of the booster and the dynamic tilt maneuver algorithm of the spacecraft are all directly verifying the technical feasibility for the V3 Starship.

Meanwhile, SpaceX has quietly started the assembly preparation for the third - generation Starship S39. The newly exposed tail - section components of the Starship show that the V3 version will adopt an “engine - built - in” design, directly installing the Raptor vacuum engines inside the liquid oxygen tank and eliminating the traditional long - distance fuel pipeline. This change can completely solve common problems such as pipeline leakage and pressure fluctuations, and at the same time improve the engine propulsion efficiency. It can be said that the eleventh test flight is both the end of V2 and the start of V3.

03

Beyond Technology Itself

Why Does the End of V2 Stir Up “Global Nerves”?

For ordinary audiences, the highlight of the Starship test flight may be the visual spectacle of “chopsticks catching a rocket”. But in the eyes of space industry practitioners, investors, and policymakers, the significance of this test flight has long gone beyond the technical level and has become an important yardstick for measuring the development direction of commercial space.

One of the core missions of the Starship is to achieve the “holy grail” goal in the space field of a “fully reusable heavy - lift vehicle”. Currently, the world's most advanced Falcon 9 rocket can only reuse the first - stage booster, while the Starship aims for the full - rocket reuse of “booster + spacecraft”. In the eleventh test flight, the combination of the second - hand booster and reused engines is a practical verification of this goal.

According to the calculation of “Financial Times”, if the Starship achieves full - rocket reuse, it will reduce the launch cost to low - Earth orbit from the current $20,000 per kilogram to less than $200, a reduction of more than 99%.

What does this mean? Satellite launch missions that used to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in the past may only cost a few million dollars in the future. Manned lunar landings and Mars exploration, which were once out of reach, will have a cost basis for commercial operation.

Investors are particularly concerned about this test flight. SpaceX has invested more than $3 billion in the Starship project in recent years. If this test flight can verify the maturity