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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the SN8 Startship rocket is set to launch 60,000 feet into the air, the highest altitude any of the prototypes have ever flown.
The craft will also be the first to sport the fins and nose cone, which are currently under construction, but are said to be ready for flight test next week.
SN8 follows its predecessors, SN5 and SN6, which have successfully completed 500-foot ‘jumps’, along with controlled landings.
Musk shared on the social media platform that the event will see a static lit test of the Raptor engine, which some say will be three inside the vehicle to increase its power and soar 18,300 miles above the surface.
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the SN8 Startship rocket is set to launch 60,000 feet into the air, the highest altitude any of the prototypes have ever flown. The craft will also be the first to show off the fins and nose cone, which are currently under construction, but are said to be ready for flight test next week.
On the day of these test flights, SpaceX has to close the roads surrounding its facilities in Boca Chica, Texas.
The company will conduct a series of tests that include static fire, which is crucial to undergo prior to launch.
SN8 will also be the first of SpaceX’s prototypes to be equipped with fins that are used for steering and the nose cone, which will one day hold cargo and humans traveling into space.
The firm is expected to use three of its massive Raptor engines to launch the 260,000-pound rocket 60,000 feet into the air, which is scheduled for sometime next week.
SN6 made its 500 foot ‘jump’ earlier this month and SN5 in August.
Unlike its predecessor, which struggled to fly, SN6 took off faster this time.
CEO Elon Musk shared a tweet after the event: ‘Turns out you can make anything fly haha.
The rocket made a safe landing after the jump, but came down at an angle and came to rest on the launch pad.
Musk said during a virtual conference earlier this month, “we are making good progress” when it comes to building the massive ship.
“What really hinders the progress of Starship is the production system,” he said during a virtual Human to Mars summit.
“A year ago there was nothing there and now we have a lot of production capacity. So we are rapidly building more and more ships. ‘
This is the second jump a spacecraft has made, but several earlier prototypes exploded during testing on the ground, in a trial-and-error learning process.
Each flaw has taught SpaceX valuable lessons in informing design and material changes, Musk said, adding that such changes are already in the works on the SN6, SN7 and SN8 prototypes, which are currently in various stages of assembly within the Boca Chica site.
The huge spacecraft is SpaceX’s planned next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle and is at the center of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel affordable.
Musk previously said that the lifespan of each spacecraft will be around 20 to 30 years, “like an airplane.”
About three Starship flights will launch from Earth per day, or about 1,000 flights a year, and each will have a capacity of more than 90,000 pounds, according to the billionaire.
By continuously transporting people 180 million miles to Mars, Musk predicts 1,000 human inhabitants by 2030 and ‘maybe around’ a million by 2050.
Musk unveiled the first Starship prototype in 2019 and expected the rocket to rise into low orbit by March this year and have people inside by the end of 2020.
