Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 18 hours ago

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Early yesterday morning SpaceX launched Starship again for the vehicle’s fourth integrated flight test. Here we saw the booster return to Earth and complete a landing burn with minor complications. We also saw a hard-fought reentry of the upper stage that eventually ended with a splashdown in the ocean albeit not quite a fully intact Starship.

For a while now SpaceX has been working on the vehicle’s heat shield with the goal of creating a lightweight, easily manufacturable, and heat-resistant tile. That’s much easier said than done, however, and it seems they have a bit more work to do. Here I will go more in-depth into the current state of the heat shield, relevant testing of tiles, Starship’s steel construction, and more.

Full article here - thespacebucket.com/is-there-a-problem-with-spacexs-starship-heat-shield

For more space-related content check out - thespacebucket.com

Credit:
SpaceX - youtube.com/c/SpaceX

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:36 - Starship's Heat Shield
3:23 - A Steel Rocket