Like the space shuttle before it, SpaceX’s giant reusable rocket Starship is built around the idea that a spacecraft should fly, land, and fly again. But Starship—whose newest version, Starship V3, is expected to launch for the first time as soon as next month—is designed from the outset for full reusability, with far shorter turnaround times than the shuttle. If the ambitious rocket works as intended, its launch and return could mark a turning point in how engineers think about getting to and from orbit, just as the shuttle once did.
Both vehicles, though, come with the same catch: the extreme conditions of atmospheric reentry while descending back to Earth. To understand why this phase of flight is so difficult and what it takes to shield reusable rockets, Science spoke with Stephen Whitmore, an aerospace engineer and director of the Propulsion Research Laboratory at Utah State University.
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