SpaceX ‘In Talks’ To Recover Starship Rocket In Australia

US aerospace company SpaceX is reportedly in talks with US and Australian officials over a plan to land a Starship rocket off Australia’s coast, part of a trend toward increasing security ties between the two countries.

The plan would involve launching a Starship rocket from SpaceX’s Texas facility, landing it in the sea off Australia’s coast and then recovering it on Australia’s territory, Reuters reported.

Doing so would require the loosening of US export controls on advanced space technologies to Australia, the report said.

President Joe Biden’s administration has already sought to loosen such restrictions within the AUKUS security alliance, including the US, Australia and the UK, which is aimed at countering China’s military power.

Australian recovery

SpaceX would ideally seek to land Starship in the ocean or on a barge, then tow it to a nearby port on Australia’s western or northern coast, but more specific plans and locations are being discussed, the report said, citing three unnamed sources.

In recent weeks SpaceX discussions with Australian and US officials have reportedly focused on regulatory issues involved with bringing a Starship rocket onshore in a foreign country.

The proposed test-landings would be likely to be the beginning of a larger Australian collaboration with SpaceX that could involve launches from the continent or landing a Starship booster on the ground rather than at sea, the report said.

SpaceX is currently preparing a fifth Starship launch that would be the first time the rocket would attempt a ground landing.

The flight is likely to be the first to attempt to return the rocket’s Super Heavy first-stage booster to the launch pad, where it could be grabbed by arms attached to the launch tower and lowered to the ground.

Soft landing

The fourth flight saw Super Heavy make a “virtual landing” in the Gulf of Mexico, where it slowed its descent to just above the surface of the water to simulate a ground landing.

The fourth test flight last month saw the Starship rocket launch from Texas base, ride into orbit, successfully carry out a hot-stage separation from the Super Heavy booster rocket before Starship’s second stage touched down in the Indian ocean.

SpaceX had been readying the fourth Starship test flight for a number of months, after the third test flight on 14 March saw the Starship complete nearly an entire test flight through space, but disintegrate on its return to Earth.

The company is developing Starship as a rapidly reusable two-stage rocket that can take large payloads into space, return to the launch pad and be ready for another launch in days or hours.

NASA has contracted SpaceX to make a lunar lander variant of the rocket that could take humans to the Moon, and the vision of chief executive Elon Musk is to eventually use it to take astronauts to Mars.