SpaceX is preparing for the 10th test flight of the Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket comprising the upper-stage Starship spacecraft and the first-stage Super Heavy rocket.
The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company on Wednesday showed off the design of a new grid fin for the Super Heavy rocket. And with a surface area about 50% larger than the previous design, it’s massive.
To emphasize the fact, SpaceX shared a photo showing an engineer standing on one of the new grid fins, which act as aerodynamic control surfaces through small adjustments during flight. Take a look below:
The new design means that the booster will soon be fitted with three grid fins instead of four, enabling it to descend at higher angles of attack as it comes in to land back at the launch tower shortly after deploying the Starship spacecraft to orbit. You can see them attached to the rocket in the image below:
The fins will also be used for the spectacular “catch” maneuver whereby the tower deploys giant mechanical arms to secure the booster just above the ground on its return.
The fins have been moved further down the booster, too, with the new position reducing the heat they receive from the Starship spacecraft’s engines when they fire up during stage separation, lowering the risk of any damage occurring.
SpaceX is planning to launch the Starship from its Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, before the end of this month. NASA will be watching the proceedings carefully, as it wants to use the Starship — alongside its own SLS rocket — for crew and cargo missions to the moon as part of the Artemis program. NASA has already inked a deal with SpaceX to use a modified version of the Starship spacecraft to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, currently set for 2027. But whether that target date holds remains to be seen.
