Temperatures hit north of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit as the craft made its re-entry
New Delhi:
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a stunning video captured by Starship of its reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere as it finished its first successful flight through space on Thursday – its third attempt.
The footage shared by Musk on X showed the “super hot plasma field grow” – a red hot flame enveloping the spacecraft – as Starship prepared to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere a little over 46 minutes into its flight.
Temperatures hit north of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit as the craft made its re-entry.
Elon Musk captioned the video: “Watch the super hot plasma field grow as Starship re-enters the atmosphere!”
Watch the super hot plasma field grow as Starship re-enters the atmosphere! pic.twitter.com/to4UOF2Kpd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024
As the craft nears the Earth, loud cheers at the SpaceX headquarters almost overpowered the commentary.
But it all went south after this as radio communication with the Starship went blank. The spacecraft is lost, SpaceX announced later.
This is the first-of-its-kind re-entry footage as the previous ones were captured by the crew from inside the cabin.
It is extremely difficult to relay data home through such heated plasma fields. But Starship managed using SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, SpaceX said.
“Reliable high-speed, low-latency internet around the world – even while traveling at 27,000 km/h through a plasma field,” Starlink wrote on X, sharing the video of Starship’s reentry.
The craft managed to send imagery till a little over 48 minutes after launch. It descended to an altitude of 77 km – the last footage showed.
Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than it ever did after taking off on Thursday – its third test flight. But it was eventually lost as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.