At last, SpaceX’s fifth prototype spacecraft has successfully ignited its lone Raptor engine in a test known as static fire, paving the way for the first flight of a large-scale spacecraft as early as this weekend.
After nearly three weeks of delays and several aborted attempts, SpaceX managed to fix a variety of relatively minor hardware bugs described by CEO Elon Musk on July 28. The first static fire attempt was originally scheduled as early as July 10, and ended up sliding gradually a few days at a time until July 25. Thus began another series of delays after static fire attempts, with varying progress from each, were aborted on July 25, 27 (x2), and the morning of 30.
Fortunately, though those abortions and scrubs and delays have finally come to an end, at least for the time being. If things go as planned in the next few days and teams can rectify a critical issue uncovered earlier this week, Starship SN5 could become the first major scale of its kind to take off (intentionally) within a few days.
Before Starship SN5’s successful July 30 static fire, Musk revealed in a tweet that the rocket’s second attempt was aborted on July 27 after Hurricane Hanna damaged a connector, presumably related to telemetry and control. SpaceX fixed the problem and managed to extend its test window by a few hours, allowing for a second attempt later that night.
Unfortunately, Starship’s static fire was scrubbed again by what Musk later described as a crucial fuel valve that didn’t open, as well as “some strangers [behavior]”Observed on a pump related to the Raptor engine’s steering hardware. To complete the static fire like SpaceX would later do two days later, the delicate “fuel spin pump” would have to have been fully repaired, but Raptor’s thrust vector control (TVC) pump problems could have been postponed.
Since SpaceX spent approximately 2.5 days inspecting and repairing Starship after the third static fire abort, they likely have had time to fix any bugs that are plaguing Raptor’s TVC hydraulics. Regardless, the Raptor TVC will need to run smoothly before SpaceX continues the first large-scale spacecraft flight test. The 150m (~ 500ft) jump will be the first time that a prototype starship of approximately the same size, and built from the same materials, that an orbital-class spacecraft will attempt controlled flight.
Prior to the July 30 static fire, SpaceX had already introduced some Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR), used to warn aviators of the exclusion zones, with the FAA for jump test attempts on August 2 and 3. . SpaceX will likely take 12-24 hours to analyze the data, inspect Starship, and determine a timeline for the first jump attempt, but there is at least a slight chance that the company will push for Starship SN5 to fly as early as this Sunday. Stay tuned as things unfold and the jump test has a more specific date.
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