Starship Orbital Flight Test STA Granted by the FCC
The FCC has granted Special Temporary Authority (STA) to SpaceX for the first Starship orbital flight test, but the company still needs a launch license from the FAA before it can conduct the flight.
The STA is necessary to authorize Starship to test vehicle communications from the launch pad at Boca Chica TX, and the experimental recovery operation following the Starship test vehicle demo launch. It extends the uplink frequency information in grant 1230-EX-ST-2022 and adds an additional data rate.
Trajectory data will be provided directly to NTIA, USAF, and NASA. Launch licensing authority is under the purview of the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Last June, the FAA presented SpaceX with a list of environmental concerns that it said needed to be addressed before a launch license would be granted.
The STA became effective January 20, and is viable through July 20th, 2023.
Starship Orbital Test Flight Profile
According to information provided to the FCC by SpaceX in its application for the special temporary authority, the Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Boosterwill then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore. The Orbital Starship will fly between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.
The most recent Starship high-altitude test flight occurred on May 5, 2021. Starship serial number 15 (SN15) successfully completed SpaceX’s fifth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas.
Similar to previous high-altitude flight tests of Starship, SN15 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN15 performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.
The Starship prototype descended under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps were actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enabled precise landing at the intended location. SN15’s Raptor engines reignited as the vehicle performed the landing flip maneuver immediately before touching down for a nominal landing on the pad.
(Source: FCC, SpaceX. Images provided)