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SpaceX officially began static ground testing of Starhopper, a large-scale spacecraft spacecraft prototype designed to support a first round of Raptor-optimized jump tests at the launch site. from SpaceX in South Texas. Simultaneously, the second full Raptor engine arrived at the site on Monday, March 11, confirming the CEO's tweets, Elon Musk, of March 8 on delivery.
Although it is relatively routine for any rocket test program, the first tanker Starhopper test actually marks the first time that SpaceX begins testing with a more or less fully integrated (formerly BFS) spacecraft. Probably made with liquid nitrogen instead of liquid oxygen / methane, the first tank tests will be used to determine the quality of the prototype's stainless steel tanks – constructed in
In November 2016, SpaceX began propellant loading tests of its first complete finished material Starship (then Big Spone Spaceship), a 12m diameter solid carbon composite liquid oxygen tank. During 2017, SpaceX switched from liquid nitrogen to liquid oxygen and finally achieved a final burst test in which the composite tank was pressurized until it exploded. , thus ending the comprehensive composite test of RFB on a large scale. In less than 6 to 12 months, Musk had come to the conclusion that a stainless steel BFR would eventually be a superior path for the rocket and spacecraft. He tried (apparently successfully) to involve his team of R & D engineers with such a radical change. late in the development phase.
Despite the fact that this radical design was launched just six to eight months ago, SpaceX engineers and technicians have developed an extremely fast development program that will – in part – lead to the successful Starhopper test, the first Starship prototype. More than a rough bench test that a real representation of the material and structures that will be needed for a reusable orbital class spacecraft, Starhopper has at least played the role of a course intensive (technically or organisationally) on the manufacture and assembly of aerospace stainless steel structures. , a material largely foreign to SpaceX flight equipment before the end of 2018.
Although the first vehicle was less than encouraging, as was the disappearance of its nose, a consequence of inappropriate planning and / or poor execution, Starhopper, in its current version, could actually being flighty in the context of suborbitive tests, subsonic jumps. Starhopper's jump tests, powered by identical or similar Raptors, would power orbital prototypes, provide an optimal wealth of experience and engineering data for the construction of stainless steel rocket sections. 9 meters / 30 feet in diameter and the operation of one or more Raptor engines at full scale. in the actual flight configurations. Extensive testing with Raptor will ensure that the new engine's avionics and flight equipment meet the safety, reliability and smoothness requirements for a nominal quality launcher and spacecraft.
About two days after Starhopper's rapid transit from its construction site to the all-new SpaceX launch facility, the local Twitter account @SPadre (abbreviation for South Padre Island) released a video of the tanking test that took place on March 11, capturing the sound of the ventilation. the fluid involved has turned into gas inside the propeller tank or tanks. The mere fact that the person behind the camera is allowed to be in the place where he was during the test almost guarantees that this first test was done with an inert liquid, most likely liquid nitrogen. , due to a massive delivery the day before (March 10). . In no conceivable world, SpaceX or the local law enforcement agencies would willingly allow Starhopper to be charged – for the first time in its history – with even partial loading of liquid methane or liquid oxygen, with passers-by distant a few hundred meters away.
When SpaceX reaches the point where it is sufficiently confident in the structural integrity of Starhopper to start rehearsals in evening dress and tests with real thruster, it's a safe bet that the company will cooperate with law enforcement to block the only access route to an isolated site. distance of at least 1-2 miles, if not more. It is unclear whether local owners and residents will be forced to evacuate the nearby village of Boca Chica during the tests, but it is highly likely that no one will be within several meters of Starhopper when these propeller loading tests will start, not to mention the static fire activity once Raptor (s) are installed.
According to an official SpaceX statement on progress, thruster load tests and static fires could begin "in the days to come", although the spokesman had the impression that these tests, as well as the initial jump tests, "[would] not be visible from the outside. Unless SpaceX plans to draw a forbidden area with a radius of several kilometers, interested observers will almost certainly be able to get close enough to at least see Starhopper, but the release still gives an idea of the concentration of l & # 39; company. will be safe during these first tests.
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