Ray Wang, founder of constellation research, notes that Texas has no state income tax, no capital gains tax, and a business-friendly environment with “a lot of cheap land.”
SpaceX appears to be preparing for a test launch of its SN9 Starship prototype, which could arrive earlier this week.
SCPI-F for ‘Escape Pods’ campers from SpacePex, AIRBNB, Tesla Alumni.
The aerospace company on Wednesday conducted a triple-raptor static fire test of the next-generation spaceflight system at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chika, Texas, briefly highlighting the test vehicle’s three engines.
“It looked like it was only a second, but it could be by design to protect the pads and still get the data they wanted,” said Chris Bergin of Nassaspasflight.com.
Elon Musk says reports of Specs valuation doubling ‘inappropriate’
The static fire test is part of a regular series of inspections before the start of testing. Due to the short duration from the firing of the test expected on Wednesday, another stable fire test could be taken on Thursday. If all goes according to plan, testing could begin as early as Friday.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. ordered a road closure around the facility area on Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., local time, for “expected test launch activities for SpaceX.” According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there are also airport controls around Boka Chika for Saturday and Sunday.
A SpaceX spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment from Fox Business.
Click here to read more on Fox Business
The potential test launch of the SN9 reached the same itude altitude of a commercial jet after receiving the first successful flight of significant alt altitude last month by its predecessor, the SN8.
After successful testing, a new “flip maneuver” landed on Earth, which was found to be successful in directing the rocket. However, the ship landed in the launching pad very quickly after meeting a fiery end.
“Successful climbing, switchover on header tanks and precise flop control at landing points!” Kasturi tweeted at the time. “Fuel header tank pressure was lower during landing burn, which increased touchdown velocity and RUD, but we got the data we needed!”
Get Fox Business on the go by clicking here
Starship is a fully reusable transport system designed to carry both crew and cargo into Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. The Starship is expected to be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle with a carrying capacity of more than 100 metric tons in Earth orbit.
In addition to SN9, SpaceX’s SN10 report is nearing completion. In response to an unofficial aerial photo edited to show two starships on SpaceX’s South Texas launch pad, Musk lamented that multi-starship testing operations could become a reality “soon.”
