Technologies

Next Flight of the Giant SpaceX Starship Draws Closer

Elon Musk says his Mars rocket prototype is ready to launch.

The Federal Aviation Administration came one step closer on Friday to giving SpaceX’s Starship the green light to launch again, but says it needs to see dozens of improvements first. SpaceX founder Elon Musk says most of those changes are done and he’s ready to blast off.

The FAA announced it has closed its investigation into the «mishap» ending of Starship’s first orbital flight attempt on April 20. That test ended with the vehicle being intentionally destroyed after the first stage Super Heavy booster failed to separate from the main Starship itself.

The agency that oversees commercial spaceflight in the US sent a letter to SpaceX outlining a list of 63 corrective actions to be taken before a launch license will be issued for the next Starship orbital flight attempt.

To be clear, the list of changes was developed in cooperation with SpaceX engineers and approved by the FAA. The way the process actually works is that SpaceX determines what it thinks caused the mishap and submits a report, including corrective actions, to the FAA. That report was submitted Aug. 21. As part of its side of the investigation, the FAA reviewed that report and sent over a final list of required changes to SpaceX last week.

«Corrective actions include redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety critical systems,» the FAA said in a statement.

The agency emphasized that «the closure of the mishap investigation does not signal an immediate resumption of Starship launches.»

Just days before the FAA announcement, SpaceX and Musk said on X (formerly Twitter) that a new Starship prototype, dubbed Ship 25, had been stacked atop a new Super Heavy booster and that the mated pair was ready to launch.

Elon Musk shows off the shiny SpaceX Starship

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SpaceX later released a statement of its own on Friday that pinpointed the failure of the April 20 test flight.

«During ascent, the vehicle sustained fires from leaking propellant in the aft end of the Super Heavy booster, which eventually severed connection with the vehicle’s primary flight computer,» the statement reads. «This led to a loss of communications to the majority of booster engines and, ultimately, control of the vehicle.»

So when will the Starship fly?

The company says it has since made numerous fixes, upgrades and other mitigations to the Starship, its testing regime and its launch infrastructure. The launch pad at the SpaceX Starbase facility in south Texas was partially destroyed during the April blast-off.

On Sunday, Musk claimed on X that the SpaceX team has completed 57 of the improvements required by the FAA and that the remaining six items refer to future actions for later flights.

However, the FAA’s letter sent to SpaceX on Thursday, which was shared with myself and other reporters,implies that the company has not yet submitted its application for a launch license for Starship’s next attempt at reaching space.

So it appears the Starship is getting closer to launching again, but there’s still some paperwork to be done. It’s also possible that SpaceX still needs to demonstrate the efficacy of some of those improvements to the Starship to the satisfaction of the FAA.

This all means it’s unlikely we’ll see it fly in the next few days, but perhaps we can hope for some action in the next few weeks or so. Stay tuned.

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The Hottest Switch 2 Accessory Could Be… a Lap Desk

Commentary: How else will you use the Joy-Cons’ cool new mouse feature?

One of the most interesting rumors about the Nintendo Switch 2’s Joy-Cons was that you could use them like computer mice. Now that the feature has been confirmed in the April 2 Nintendo Direct, and we’ve seen it used for action and strategy games, it’s pretty clear: The most-needed accessory for the new Switch 2 is a lap desk.

Given its rich history of introducing wacky new ways to control games, Nintendo can perhaps be forgiven for introducing a novel control function in a console that is otherwise largely identical to its predecessor. But the Switch 2 is a couch console when docked and freely roaming otherwise — rarely near a flat surface to use the Joy-Cons’ mouse functionality.

As a lap desk owner, fan and evangelizer, lap desks are the obvious answer to the mouse problem: portable around the house, multipurpose for work or play and somewhat affordable. Or at least, there are reasonable options that aren’t any pricier than the $90 Nintendo is asking for Switch 2 Joy-Cons.

While yes, any flat surface will technically do, just look at the gameplay for Drag x Drive, where players are shown running their dual Joy-Cons up and back in rapid succession. That seems hard to do on a makeshift surface like a clipboard or container lid. And for strategy games like Civilization 7, imagine not having a wide surface to move around the map and click in and out of menus.

Nintendo’s Treehouse stream for the launch game Drag x Drive showed how to use both Joy-Cons in mouse mode to move around. The presenter — playing on a desk — noted that players could run the controllers flat on their legs as alternative surfaces.

As CNET’s Scott Stein noted in his hands-on with the Switch 2, using the Joy-Cons on his legs was «a little less tiring» than on a desk — but presumably this only works well for a game like Drag x Drive, which relies on forward-and-back motion rather than side-to-side (unless you get really good at wrapping around your legs).

It’s worth pointing out how few of the Switch 2’s launch games and those coming later have mouse functionality — right now, only Drag x Drive requires it, while Civ 7 and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond optionally use Joy-Cons in mouse mode. Mario Party Jamboree will have also added mouse functionality in its Switch 2 version. We’ll wait to see how many games truly take advantage of this control potential.

Admittedly, the $450 Switch 2 and $80 Mario Kart World prices are already ruffling feathers, so expecting gamers to pay more for furniture just to get basic functionality for certain games is a big ask. But for all those couch crusaders planning their most relaxing way to play, a lap desk is the best way to have your Switch 2 and mouse with it, too.