Following on the post immediately below, ""Elon Musk admits Grok lags behind Anthropic’s AI model, says xAI needs time to catch up" (SPCX)".
From CNN, September 27:
SpaceX’s massive Starship is finally going to orbit — and the effects could be seismic
People near the sandy shores of Texas’ southernmost coastline are accustomed to the earth-shattering roar of the most powerful rocket ever made: Since 2023, various prototypes of SpaceX’s Starship have taken flight from the area 13 times — with nearly half ending in some form of unintended explosion.
But the stakes are about to get even higher.
On Monday, SpaceX will attempt to launch Starship to orbit for the first time, allowing it to deploy the inaugural batch of a new generation of Starlink internet satellites. Liftoff is expected during a 75-minute launch window that will open at 8:15 a.m. ET.
If successful, Monday’s test flight could mark a monumental step forward — signifying that Starship may soon leave its test flight phase and enter full operation.
As Starship crosses that threshold, the ripple effects for the broader space industry are expected to be seismic.
Starship is set to deploy a host of new space-based technologies, including the upgraded Starlink satellites designed to boost the capacity of SpaceX’s global internet business and orbital data centers that CEO Elon Musk hopes will power energy-sucking AI models.
The promises only grow bolder from there: Starship has a multibillion-dollar contract to carry NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface — perhaps for the first time since the Apollo program — amid a new space race with China. And Musk continues to harp on his long-shot vision of using the gargantuan launch vehicle to create a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Since Starship test flights began, dating back to brief “hop” tests in 2019, those goals have seemed far beyond the horizon. But Monday’s flight, if successful, will mark the beginning of a new phase in the vehicle’s development — and introduce a host of new risks.
For the past 13 test flights, SpaceX intentionally placed Starship in a “passively safe suborbital trajectory,” the company acknowledged in a blog post. This meant that “even if control over the spacecraft was completely lost, it was already on a path to reenter the atmosphere and splash down in a pre-determined location.”
As Starship attempts to reach orbit for the first time, the vehicle will lose that safety net. It will be traveling at such high speeds and at a precise trajectory that it will enter free fall around the planet, meaning that— if it loses control — it can’t be easily dragged back down to Earth.
Reaching orbit will offer Starship a dazzling array of new possibilities, perhaps allowing it to deploy functional satellites for the first time as well as pave the way for future exploration deeper into space....
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