SpaceX ran the engine on its latest Starship The third prototype on Thursday night (November 12), but the test was a confusing one.
The Starship SN8 vehicle made its third brief “static fire” – a test in which the engine is ignited while the rocket stays on the ground – on Thursday at SpaceX’s South Texas facility, near the village of Boca Chika.
Shortly after the test, the content can be seen dripping from the base of the SN8, which many outside organizations do live webcasts. This felt strange, and the founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk Soon confirmed that something trivial had happened.
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“We have lost the pneumatics of the vehicle. Currently there is an unknown cause. The pressure of the liquid oxygen header tank is increasing. Hopefully a burst disc will run to remove the pressure, otherwise it will pop the cork.” Said via Twitter Thursday night. (Burst discs are stand-alone devices that, like valves, shut off different parts or systems of the vehicle. As noted by Musk, they relieve pressure when opened.)
The cause of the problem is unknown at this time, Musk said Second Thursday tweet: “Maybe the engine preburner is melted or the hot gas is multiplied. This causes pneumatic damage. We need to design this problem.”
That’s the bad news. The good news is that Burst Disk has done its job, and S.N. 8 is still in one piece.
“The burst disc worked, so the vehicle looks fine. We have to rotate at least one engine,” Musk said. Another tweet.
The burst disc worked, so the vehicle looks fine. We have to rotate at least one engine.November 13, 2020
The SN8 (“Serial No. 8”) has three raptors, SpaceX’s powerful next pay generation engine that runs on liquid methane and liquid oxygen. No previous starship prototype had more than one raptor.
SN8 static fire – The first two occurred on October 20 and 20 10 Nov. – Aims to pave the way for a 9-mile-high (15 kilometers) test flight in the near future. It will be much more than any of its predecessors. The Stubby Starhopper craft and the SN5 and SN6 prototypes reached a maximum altitude of about 500 feet (150 m) during their flights, which occurred in the summer of 2019 and this past August and September, respectively. (There are also games to help the SN8 nasal cone and stability flush sports manage more ambitious incoming flights.)
Thursday night’s shock will delay SN8’s big leap, but we’ll have to wait and see.
The Starship system consists of a 165-foot (50 m) vehicle called the Starship and is known as a giant rocket super heavy, which will be both fully and quickly reusable. The final Starship craft will have six raptors, and the super heavy will be powered by about 30 engines.
SpaceX sees Starship as the leading transport system that Mars has long dreamed of – economically feasible. If all goes according to plan, Starship will also handle all of SpaceX’s other flight needs, from launching satellites to clearing space junk, to taking passengers on superfast, to “point-to-point” trips around the world.
Mike is the author of “Wall L”Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the quest for alien life. Follow him on Twitter ઇકMikeHeldVall. Follow us on Twitter @speedotcom or Facebook.
