Elon Musk’s visionary company Space X is preparing to launch the largest rocket in history. The Super Heavy Rocket, whose main mission is to carry the Starship rocket into space, is capable of carrying a record payload of up to 150 tons to low Earth orbit. This is the first rocket capable of carrying a large amount of cargo. At the same time, the rocket is fully reusable for the first time in history. If the test is successful, it will make space travel much cheaper and faster. The launch was expected at 15:20, but due to technical problems the rocket was not launched. Another launch attempt is expected in the coming days.

The Super Heavy Rocket is the second stage of the Starship, which may be used for future trips to the moon. On the Space X website, the company also talks about long journeys into space, when the rocket is capable of carrying up to a hundred people into space at a time. Space X also stated that the Rocket could be used for interplanetary travel. However, it can also be used to launch satellites, launch satellites, or even transport cargo to Earth. According to Space X, the rocket will be able to deliver cargo anywhere in the world within an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5QXreqOrTA

The Super Heavy rocket surpassed the previous record holder for the number of rockets the Saturn V, used for the Apollo and Skylab missions, in many ways. Saturn V reaches a height of 110 meters. Super Heavy together with Starship achieved a record height of 119 meters and a diameter of 9 meters. Saturn V has a maximum thrust of 31 mega newtons, Starship is capable of reaching nearly 75 mega newtons of thrust. It is assisted by 33 Raptor engines. The maximum payload of the Saturn V is 140 tonnes. Even this Super Heavy figure, when it is capable of carrying 150 tons of cargo to low orbit, if it returns to earth is counted, and up to 250 tons, if it is returned it is not counted.

The reuse of rockets is his greatest innovation. So far, at least one rocket stage has had to be rebuilt. For the Falcon 9 Rocket, only the first of the two stages was revived. Super Heavy Rockets must be completely reusable and only undergo regular checks before the next launch, this will greatly speed up the entire turnaround of the rocket.

Less than 3 hours left until the scheduled Superheavy/Starship launch. Meanwhile, we can familiarize ourselves with the approximate flight trajectory. https://t.co/Ihx1LK4kcg

— Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal)
April 17, 2023

Today’s launch of the rocket together with Starship was supposed to be the first test of the rocket with the aim of testing all flight phases and conducting a sea landing simulation. The rocket must detach from the ship and land on the sea surface approximately 8 minutes after being launched. The starship will then make one incomplete orbit around Earth during its flight in the atmosphere and land on the surface of the ocean near Hawaii. This first launch did not rely on achieving orbit. It also does not rely on the reuse of ships or rockets.