[ad_1]
In what is likely one of the last steps before SpaceX’s next attempt to launch the Starship at high altitudes, the company appeared to succeed in subjecting the Starship’s serial number 9 (SN9) to its first triple static fire test. Raptor.
Relatively late in a test window that opened at 8 a.m. CST (UTC-6) but was then pushed back to noon, SpaceX Starship SN9’s first static firing attempt began in earnest around 3:15 p.m. CST. Signified by the ventilation activity at the propellant farm responsible for preparing and charging liquid oxygen and methane to the vessels, slight changes in the test flow were observed, but the static fire occurred. more or less when scheduled at 4:07 pm.
SN9 fired all three of its Raptors in quick succession and shut down the engines in 1.5-2 seconds – extremely short compared to any previous Starhopper or Starship-mounted Raptor rated static fires. Long-time followers immediately noticed this small discrepancy, speculating that it could be a post-ignition abortion or an intentional shortening to avoid damaging the concrete surface of the rig (an incident which has happened several times in recent testing).
Shortly before the short static fire, SpaceX extended the end of its Jan.6 testing window (in the form of a road closure notice) from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oddly enough, rather than the expected response of Starship disarming and reopening the road after a successful test, SpaceX essentially recycled SN9 and began a separate test around 6 p.m. The road was never reopened and a SpaceX team never returned to the platform between tests, implying that the company may have encountered a minor hardware or software bug earlier today.
It is not known what the real purpose of the second attempt was and it is more or less impossible to know for sure with the confirmation of CEO Elon Musk. It’s possible – though unlikely – that the first static fire went exactly as planned and that the follow-up test was meant to be a simple wet data collection (WDR) dress rehearsal. Either way, after a surprise downpour briefly engulfed the Starship SN9 minutes previously, the second test appeared to halt about 30 minutes after conditioning and loading the thruster, preventing both a full WDR and / or a static fire.
According to a test notice received Jan.6 by NASASpaceflight contributor and photographer Mary (Bocachicagale), SpaceX has another test window available on Jan.7 in the event that Wednesday’s tests partially failed. In a rare case, SpaceX’s hand-distributed warning to residents preceded any planned additional road closures, the last of which was lifted on January 6.
On January 5, SpaceX received a trio of Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) from the FAA that will allow the company to restrict access to nearby airspace for attempted high altitude spacecraft launch on the 8th, January 9 and 10. In the absence of an unequivocally successful static shot, it’s highly unlikely – but not impossible – that Starship will be ready for a launch attempt during any of these three windows. Still, it’s safe to say that SN9 is likely less than a week away from its first flight – which should be a carbon copy of SN8’s attempt to launch and land at 7.8 mi (12.5 km). – whether SpaceX can perform a long-lasting static fire in the next day or two.
[ad_2]
Source link