SpaceX has released its latest work Starship Prototype for the first time.
Three engines of the SN9 vehicle caught fire for about a second today (Jan. 6) at 0:07 pm during a steady-fire test at SpaceX’s South Texas facilities near the Gulf Coast village of Boka Choka.
A stationary fire, in which rocket engines ignite while the vehicle is anchored on the ground, is a regular preflight checkout. And SN9 (“Serial Number 9”) will be on the ground really soon, if everything goes according to plan: SpaceX The vehicle is preparing for a test flight that is expected to be similar to the epic created by its predecessor last month.
Video: SpaceX tests the engines of its Starship SN9
Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX’s Mars-colonial vehicles in the images
On December 9, S.N. 8 – which was powered by SpaceX’s next three-speed Raptor engine, such as the S.N. Hope for the first high-itude elevation of the Starship program, At a speed of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in the sky of South Texas. (The previous three single-engine prototypes have also flown, but they have all reached a maximum itude height of about 500 feet or 150 meters.)
S.N. 8 did not stick to its landing and erupted into dramatic fireballs. But the vehicle struck a chord with every other landmark set by SpaceX, the leading company founder and CEO. Elon Musk To declare a flight Great success.
SpaceX is developing a starship to take people and payloads to the moon, Mars and other distant places – and finally, all of the company’s spaceflight requirements. The system consists of two elements: a 165-foot tall (50m) spacecraft, called a starship, and a giant first-stage booster, known as a super heavy.
Both Starship and Super Heavy will be fully and quickly reusable, Musk said. Since the first phase of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Rockets was done earlier, the vert will also return to Earth for landing after receiving the Super Heavy Starship loudly. But the starship’s touchdown will be more accurate than the Falcons, ideally coming directly to the launch stand to improve turnaround time, Musk recently announced.
The starship spacecraft, meanwhile, will make several roundtrips between Earth and Mars, or whatever else is targeted. The vehicle needs about 30 engines super heavy to land our relatively large planet; The final, six-engine starship will be powerful enough to land itself off the surface of the moon and Mars, Musk said.
Today’s steady fires were captured on video by dedicated Starship observers as the site on tour Spdre.com, Which brings Starship scenes to life on YouTube. Before he took off, S.N. This will not be the only test performed by 9. For example, the SN8 operated four static fires over a period of more than a month ahead of its hop-high.
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
