The launch of two giant rockets will take place over the next few days. February 28th will see Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch its massive Starship rocket on its eighth test flight from its South Texas launch site. Meanwhile, in French Guiana, Arianespace’s new Ariane 6 rocket is now scheduled to launch its first commercial flight on March 3rd. Both launches, as ever, will depend on favourable weather conditions.

SpaceX’s Starship has flown seven times to date, most recently on January 16th. That mission was not 100 per cent successful; SpaceX caught Super Heavy with the ‘chopstick’ arms of Starbase’s launch tower about seven minutes after liftoff – very much as planned – but the Starship’s upper stage suffered a serious problem and ended up exploding over the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX investigated the reasons behind the explosion – which was implemented by the rocket’s own computer systems – and recently wrapped up its anomaly investigation, which traced the cause to unexpectedly high stresses in Ship’s propulsion system during flight. Those stresses created a propellant leak, which caused engine shutdowns and ultimately triggered the vehicle’s autonomous flight termination system.

SpaceX will attempt another chopsticks catch for the booster stage, and Starship’s upper stage will attempt to deploy four dummy Starlink satellites on a suborbital trajectory.

For Ariane 6 it is a vital launch, and the launch company says the ground problems which delayed a planned launch last week have now been resolved. This flight (VA 263) is the first of the year for Arianespace. The company says it plans five or six launches this year. The VA 263 mission will be the first commercial flight of Ariane 6, Europe’s new heavy launcher. It follows its successful maiden flight on July 9th 2024.

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Tags: Ariane 6, spacex, starship