SpaceX has just started the engine of its latest spacecraft prototype, paving the way for a test flight in the near future.
The company conducted a “static fire” test of Starship SN5 today (July 30), leaving its Raptor motor it caught fire while the vehicle remained tethered to the ground at SpaceX facilities in South Texas, near the town of Boca Chica.
The successful test apparently gave the stainless steel SN5, a test version of SpaceX’s colonizing Mars starship from SpaceX, a chance to slide.
“Starship SN5 just completed full-length static fire. 150m jump soon,” Founder and CEO of SpaceX announced via Twitter today (July 30).
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SpaceX has been iterating towards the final Starship design through a series of SN prototypes. Most of the SN5’s predecessors were lost at some point in the testing process, either during pressure tests or static fires. SN4 for example exploded during a static fire on May 30, the fifth such test for the prototype.
But SpaceX doesn’t seem inclined to subject the SN5 to so many engine tests. If Musk’s tweet is a guide, the vehicle could soar some 500 feet (150 meters) in the South Texas sky sometime in the coming days.
Only a prototype of Starship has made such a wild flight to date: the stocky Starhopper, an early variant that was retired after taking off several hundred feet in August 2019.
The final version of Starship will feature six Raptor engines, will be about 165 feet (50 m) tall and will be capable of carrying up to 100 people, Musk said. The spacecraft will launch on a gigantic rocket called Super Heavy, which will be powered by 31 Raptors of its own.
Starship and Super Heavy will be fully and quickly reusable, Musk said. The billionaire businessman imagines that the duo will finally meet all of SpaceX’s needs, from launching satellites into Earth’s orbit to transport passengers to the moon, Mars and beyond.
The space flight system could start working quickly if testing and development works well. SpaceX representatives have said that the first Starship / Super Heavy missions, likely commercial communications satellite launches, could arrive as early as 2021.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
