SpaceX Starship prototype ready to blast off: where to watch


Arthur Scott-Geddes
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On Wednesday, SpaceX engineers prepared to launch a prototype Starship rocket for the first time since a test flight ended in a spectacular explosion last month.
Called SN10, the experimental vehicle will attempt a high-altitude flight test, climbing 10km into the sky before carrying out a controlled landing near the launch pad.

There is a live stream hosted by Nasa Spaceflight.


The Starship project is being followed closely by scientists and enthusiasts, many of whom believe it will one day carry human beings to the Moon and Mars.

The flight at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, was delayed after the state was battered by a winter storm that left millions without power and SpaceX relying on back-up solar power during test preparations.

Powered by three of the company's innovative Raptor engines, the SN10 is helping to pave the way for what SpaceX said will be the most powerful space launch vehicle yet developed.
The final Starship will comprise a super-heavy booster topped with the Starship section itself, standing more than 120 metres tall and capable of lifting more than 100 tonnes of cargo into low Earth orbit.
The vehicle's unconventional design, which uses stainless steel instead of the expensive titanium alloys and advanced composite materials more commonly associated with space flight, is intended to make the vehicle much more affordable and further reduce the cost of transporting objects and people into space.


The controlled descent during the test on Wednesday, using the Starship's large fins for stability, will help engineers make the final spacecraft fully reusable.
The vehicle's shape, in particular its large surface area, is intended to prepare it for touching down on the Martian surface with a human crew.

The spacecraft is expected to carry the first civilian passengers on a lunar mission in 2023.
The dearMoon mission seeks eight civilians to join Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa for a week-long space adventure, including a fly-by of the Moon.

Engineers are already working on the next Starship prototypes, and keen-eyed SpaceX watchers have spotted SN11 and SN15 in a nearby facility.
The first prototypes of the Starship's booster stage are also reported to be taking shape.

The specs

Engine 60kwh FWD

Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry

Power 204hp Torque 360Nm

Price, base / as tested Dh174,500 

The Gentlemen

Director: Guy Ritchie

Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant 

Three out of five stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
While you're here
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet

Price, base: Dh429,090

Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)