1/2/2025 Debra Levey Larson
Written by Debra Levey Larson
Space X recently posted a video of Starship’s sixth flight test. It can be viewed at https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-6.
At approximately 32:48 into the video, it talks about the testing being done to better understand and mitigate the harsh atmosphere their space craft will encounter when it reenters Earth’s atmosphere after returning from Mars.
The video includes acknowledgment of the testing conducted in the Plasmatron X inductively coupled plasma facility by the Center for Hypersonics & Entry Systems Studies in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Illinois researchers involved in CHESS are aerospace researchers Marco Panesi, Greg Elliott, Daniel Bodony, and Francesco Panerai, Fabien Evrard, Philipe Geubelle, and Sean Kearney and mechanical science researchers Tonghun Lee and Kelly Stephani. In addition, senior research scientists Alessandro Munafò, Jason Meyers and Hal Cambier are working with CHESS.