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Accidentally producing the polar opposite of the Starship’s serial number 9 (SN9), completing a trio of Raptor ignition tests in four hours last week, SpaceX has now suffered three consecutive static fires. abandoned January 20.
On January 13, Starship SN9 successfully fired its Raptor engines three times without human intervention or inspection. While this is an impressive feat, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk quickly revealed that two of the rocket’s three engines were damaged during the test campaign. NASASpaceflight.com later reported that the company detected an issue with a Raptor after the first three-engine static fire, ultimately blocking it and performing the next two static fires with just two engines.
SpaceX initially allotted five days to replace the two damaged Raptors (SN44 and SN46), scheduling road closures (a telltale sign of test plans) on January 18, 19 and 20. Windows on the 18th and 19th went without any attempt. Finally, on the 20th, SpaceX launched the first real Starship SN9 test attempt since the engine swap at around 2 p.m., but it was halted at 3 p.m.
After an extremely quick recycle, Starship likely made it within a minute of ignition, but the second attempt was eventually cut short around 3:40 p.m.
Two hours later, after SpaceX extended the end of its route closure from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Starship SN9’s third static firing attempt at the Raptor was also canceled – again to a minute or less. ignition.
SpaceX held Starship SN9 for about an hour or so after the third abortion, but finally began final destocking and depressurization around 6:50 p.m., marking the end of the day’s attempts.
It’s impossible to say what caused the back-to-back abortions on Wednesday or if all three instances were connected. While this is potentially frustrating to look at from the side, it’s essential to remember that the public has a truly unprecedented continuing view of SpaceX’s process of developing and perfecting a world-class launcher. Additionally, each Starship abandonment should theoretically produce volumes of valuable data that the Starship and Raptor teams can use to better understand how to design, build, test and operate the advanced vehicle and its engines.
More likely than not, SpaceX is leaning towards caution (and therefore cautious hardware and software limits) while attempting to prepare Starship SN9 for its true goal of data collection – a high-altitude launch and landing style attempt. SN8.
SpaceX is currently scheduled to retry with another round of static fire attempts from the Starship SN9 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CST (UTC-6) on Thursday, January 21.
Meanwhile, ahead of multiple SN9 abortions on Wednesday, SpaceX launched the latest in a series of Starship “ test tanks ” from the factory to the launch pad. A team quickly attached the tank to the concrete slab and connected it to ground support equipment for a series of tests that will likely end with SpaceX intentionally pressurizing the tank until it bursts. . If successful, it will open the door for future spaceships to save weight by reducing the thickness of the steel skin from 4mm to 3mm.
Stay tuned for updates on the two active test campaigns.
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