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Artificial banana 1st Zero-G indicator to fly on SpaceX Starship

An artificial banana floated peacefully in the microgravity environment of outer space on Tuesday Nov 19 becoming first zero gravity (Zero-G) indicator to fly on SpaceX Starship

Thursday November 21, 2024 12:17 PM, ummid.com Science Desk

An artificial banana floated peacefully in the microgravity environment of outer space on Tuesday Nov 19 becoming first zero gravity (Zero-G) indicator to fly on SpaceX Starship.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively referred to as "Starship", represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable, Elon Musk owned company said.

SpaceX launched the 6th flight test of Starship from Starbase on November 19, 2024, seeking to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online.

The Super Heavy booster successfully lifted off at the start of the launch window, with all 33 Raptor engines powering it and Starship off the pad from Starbase. Following a nominal ascent and stage separation, the booster successfully transitioned to its boostback burn to begin the return to launch site.

Today’s Starship flight test has a special payload onboard – a banana! This universally-accepted measurement of scale is approximately the size of one Starlink Mini pic.twitter.com/5ZuoIt3EbB

— Starlink (@Starlink) November 19, 2024

During this phase, automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt. The booster then executed a pre-planned divert maneuver, performing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship completed another successful ascent, placing it on the expected trajectory. The ship successfully reignited a single Raptor engine while in space, demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn before starting fully orbital missions.

With live views and telemetry being relayed by Starlink, the ship successfully made it through reentry and executed a flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean even as U.S. President Elect Donald Trump joined Elon Musk to witness the entire operation.

Data gathered from the multiple thermal protection experiments, as well as the successful flight through subsonic speeds at a more aggressive angle of attack, provides invaluable feedback on flight hardware performing in a flight environment as we aim for eventual ship return and catch.

With data and flight learnings as our primary payload, Starship’s sixth flight test once again delivered. Lessons learned will directly make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.

Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/rSLQ2DDy63

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024

Starship will be used to land astronauts on the lunar surface on NASA's Artemis III mission, which will put the first humans on the Moon since 1972

"Tuesday's Starship flight test had a special payload onboard – a banana! This universally-accepted measurement of scale is approximately the size of one Starlink Mini", SpaceX said.

No longer needing its attached tethers, the artificial banana just hung there, suspended in the bay of its steel spacecraft's otherwise empty cargo hold.

"Bananas have been used for quick visual comparisons for quite some time, and our teammates thought it was time to bring the venerated yellow fruit to Starship," said Kate Tice, a quality engineering manager at SpaceX and co-host of the company's live launch webcast.

"Today, we're flying Starship's first-ever physical payload, which is, as you might have guessed, a banana", Kate said.

A camera mounted in Starship's payload bay revealed the toy banana held by cables tied to its top and bottom. More than just a visual signal that Starship had reached space on its suborbital trajectory, the banana was also a stand-in for gaining the government's approval to begin launching more purposeful payloads on future Starship flights, according to Space.com.

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