For several years we have been talking about a starship, a Space X launch pad and a spacecraft kit that, if the plans of the said company and NASA do not go wrong, will be the protagonist of the second great age of space exploration. by people. With the goal of being on the Moon this decade and Mars in the next, it’s quite possible that this ship will be a big protagonist in some of these episodes.

When I say we’ve been talking about this for years, it’s important to be clear, it’s not a criticism, I mean I’m not saying or implying that it’s going too slowly. In any case, I’m saying that it’s moving at a speed we’ve become accustomed to in almost everything to do with leaving our planet, as we were reminded recently with the commissioning of James Webb, an engineering teacher who, however, kept piling up delays during her performance and increased the budget.

Yes, it’s true that Space X’s plans for the starship have been somewhat more ambitious, at least in terms of time, as already in September 2019 the company said that it aims to have the ship in Earth orbit in just six months from then. Of course, the arrival of the pandemic had a lot to do with the partial delay, but on the other hand, we have what I said before, almost everything related to space exploration, and even more so, if it involves innovation, they are usually subject to long delays.

But it’s never too late if luck is good, as the proverb reminds us, and according to what we can read on Cnet, after numerous tests that have been carried out since 2020, it seems that The first journey of a starship into space, powered by super-heavy propellant, is approaching. So much so that SpaceX is already checking off some of the final items on its checklist, so the launch could happen within the next few weeks.

This is a litmus test, never better said, because we have to remember that this will be the first time that a superheavy engine (on this occasion its fully functional prototype) will activate a whopping 33 engines, capable of vertically lifting a starship, let’s remember, a nearly 120 meter tall beast , which can weigh up to 5,000 tons at maximum load. Engines, as you already know, are an extremely critical element in space vehicles because of the power they must deliver and the conditions they must withstand in a completely safe manner.

If all goes well with the soon-to-be-conducted test, US authorities are expected to grant Space X the necessary authorizations to finally put the starship into commercial use. And while waiting for the aforementioned space exploration missions, its first task will almost certainly be to launch the Starlink satellites into orbit, something the company already applied for permission to do about a year ago.