SpaceX eyes tower catch for next Starship after auspicious end to 13th flight

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SpaceX星舰第13次试飞创下新纪录！这次星舰从德克萨斯州发射，精准降落在印度洋预定水域，更惊喜的是，飞船没有像前几次那样爆炸起火，而是安静地漂浮在海面上，外观保持完好。工程师们赶紧派无人机飞过去检查隔热瓦——那18000多块陶瓷砖保护着飞船不锈钢外壳，经受住了超过1400摄氏度的高温考验。这标志着星舰的隔热和再入技术取得了关键突破，距离“像猎鹰9号火箭那样回收再利用”的目标又近了一大步。对普通人来说，星舰的成功意味着未来太空旅行和卫星互联网的成本将大幅降低。SpaceX正计划用星舰发射更强大的“星链”卫星，未来全球偏远地区也能享受高速宽带；长远看，星舰还要承担登月甚至载人登陆火星的任务。这次只是回收过程中没有尝试塔架抓取，但下一次试飞，SpaceX就要正式挑战“筷子夹火箭”的高难度动作了。

SpaceX was more than lucky Friday, sending its 13th full-scale Starship test flight halfway around the world from South Texas to an on-target, intact splashdown in a remote section of the Indian Ocean. Starship has made precise splashdowns before. This time, however, the ship gently tipped over and came to rest floating in a remote stretch of ocean west of Australia. Previous splashdowns ended with conflagrations, an outcome SpaceX officials have come to expect with each water landing of Starship. The buoyant Starship looked to be in fine shape after reaching the Indian Ocean. SpaceX engineers flew drones over the vehicle to inspect its heat shield, getting their best look yet at how more than 18,000 ceramic tiles insulating the ship's stainless steel airframe weathered the trip to space and back. The tiles withstood temperatures up to 2,600° Fahrenheit (1,430° Celsius) as Starship streaked back into the atmosphere at the end of its hourlong flight from Starbase, Texas.Read full article Comments