SpaceX’s Starship SN9 prototype is launching its engines for the first time
SpaceX launched its latest releases Starship First prototype.
The SN9’s three engines lit up For about one second today (Jan 6) at 5:07 PM EST (2200 GMT) during a steady fire test at SpaceX facilities in South Texas, near the village of Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast.
Static fires, in which missile engines ignite while the vehicle remains at anchorage, is a routine initial check. SN9 (“Serial No. 9”) will take off soon, if all goes according to plan: SpaceX The vehicle is preparing for a test flight that is expected to be similar to that of its predecessor last month.
Video: Watch SpaceX test the launch of the Starship SN9 engines
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On December 9, SN8 – which was powered by three of SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engines, such as the SN9 – was implemented. First-ever high jump for Starship, At an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in the sky over southern Texas. (Three earlier single-engine prototypes were also transported, but they all reached a maximum height of about 500 feet, or 150 meters.)
SN8 did not stick to his landing and exploded in a dramatic fireball. But the car has pretty much reached every other milestone set by SpaceX, the company’s pioneering founder and CEO Elon Musk To announce the trip big success.
SpaceX is developing the Starship to transport people and payloads to the Moon, Mars, and other distant destinations – and ultimately, to take care of all of the company’s spaceflight needs. The system consists of two components: a 165 feet (50 meters) spacecraft called the Starship and a giant booster craft in the first stage known as Super Heavy.
Musk said both the Starship and Super Heavy will be completely reusable and fast. The Super Heavy will return to Earth for a vertical landing after getting the Starship aloft, as did the early stages of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy missiles. But the Starship’s landing would be more accurate than the Falcons’ landing, ideally Speak directly on the launch pad To improve response time, Mask recently announced.
Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft will make numerous round trips between Earth and Mars, or whatever other destination it has been targeted. A car only needs a Super Heavy with about 30 motors to drive out of our relatively huge planet; Musk said the final six-engine spacecraft would be powerful enough to launch itself from the surface of the Moon and Mars.
Today’s steady fire was captured on video by dedicated Starship watchers such as Tourism Site Spadre.com, Which are broadcasted on the web Live broadcast of the spacecraft’s views on YouTube. This may not be the only test SN9 does before it begins its journey. For example, SN8 fired four stationary fires over the course of more than a month before the high-altitude jump.
Mike Wall is the author ofAbroad“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustration by Karl Tate), a book on the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.