Space X’s Recent Rocket Launch

By Erin Choi

Orange Lutheran High School

Starship serial number 8 (SN8), one of Space X’s rockets, recently attempted its flight on December 9, 2020. Although the launch had several flaws, it was overall a successful launch and a major stepping stone in fulfilling the dream of revolutionizing Mars.

This 165 foot tall rocket took off near the South Texas village of Boca Chica, near the Space X’s facility. Its main goal was to soar at least 7.8 miles up the atmosphere and land safely near the place where the launch took place. At 5:45 EST, Starship was launched for 6 minutes and 42 seconds, reaching its goal height. However, the rocket landed a little too fast, causing it to crash and explode. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, stated on a tweet on December 9th, “Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed!” Even though there were flaws, it was a huge improvement compared to the last takeoff, proving its possibility of their ambitions in reaching Mars.

This proposes a question: Is reaching Mars possible? To answer this question, two students were asked how they thought about Musk’s dream. Claire Kang, a sophomore attending Troy High School stated, “In my opinion, I think it is unnecessary for the future of our society. Although establishing this large scale goal is a tremendous step into our world of technology, spending large sums of money, time, and energy for this cause might not be the most useful idea.” On the contrary, Chanah Park, a junior from Cypress High School, believes the dream of reaching Mars is possible, as she claimed, “His dream is very lofty but I believe that he can do it. People criticizing your dream is when you know you have something great.” Even though these are two contrasting opinions, they are also understandable as Musk’s ambitions can definitely be overwhelming for some.

Reading articles about Space X’s recent launch actually influenced me to feel hope and a possibility that humans may actually be able to reach Mars. Even though it may seem like a waste of resources, I believe that with the knowledge we’re given, creating innovations can hugely benefit humanity as it can expand the proximity and availability of what humans can accomplish. A long time ago, we believed that reaching the moon was impossible and was unreasonable with human abilities. However, humanity was able to achieve that grand goal and prove that with loads of effort, things unimaginable could be possible. Like this, I believe that reaching Mars is definitely a goal that humans can reach. Continued efforts in building more advanced technology can build the path in reaching for the discovery of space. Musk’s dream is achievable.