SpaceX is set to launch its Starship Mars prototype rocket in its most ambitious flight to date

In the annals of history, “SN8” is perhaps a nickname that many space fans fondly remember.

Next week, Elon Musk says his company SpaceX will attempt to fly its prototype Starship rocket – designed to one day take people to Mars – at its highest altitude to date.

Dubbed SN8, or serial number 8, it will also be the first flight of a prototype spaceship with the nose cone attached to the top, giving it a more finished look.

The launch will take place from Boca Chica in Texas, where SpaceX is developing and testing its Starship vehicle.

Previously, he flew more primitive prototype ships without a nose cone on short jumps, up to 150 meters in the air, before returning them to a ground landing.

SN8’s flight, however, will be a whole different beast.

So far, Starship prototypes have flown with just one of the company’s innovative Raptor engines on board. SN8, meanwhile, will be the first to fly with three.

It will aim to reach a height of 15 kilometers before turning around and lowering its stomach first, simulating what a future return from orbit might look like.

“The objectives are to test the climb of engine 3, body flaps, the transition from the main tank to the main tank and the landing flip,” Musk wrote on Twitter earlier this week, after a successful static firing test of the rocket.

However, the landing of the vehicle is not guaranteed. “A lot of things have to be okay, so maybe 1/3 of luck,” Musk added later. Tweeter. “But that’s why we have SN9 and SN10.”

SpaceX, which launched humans for NASA for the second time earlier this month, has made no secret that its rapid iterations of Starship, built quickly and increasingly complex, each have a considerable degree of failure. at each test.

Indeed, several Starship prototypes have experienced failures. SN3 collapsed under pressure testing in April 2020, SN4 exploded in May 2020 after its own static fire test, and even SN8 has problems encountered.

But the company hopes that the rapid development of prototypes will be the best way to make this ambitious rocket a reality.

Starship, which will be launched on a single reusable booster known as Super Heavy, is said to be the most powerful rocket in history, with a height of 70 meters.

SpaceX wants to use it first to more easily launch its controversial mega constellation Starlink. While the company’s existing Falcon 9 rocket can launch 60 Starlink satellites per flight, Starship could launch hundreds.

Ultimately, however, the goal is to use Starship and Super Heavy to send humans to Mars, and potentially other destinations in the solar system.

The company is far from having achieved this objective. But if he can prove that a full-scale Starship vehicle can fly and return to Earth as intended, he will take a major step in that direction.

Eventually, perhaps next year, the company hopes to reach orbit for the first time with a later Starship prototype.

But first, we’ll see Starship fly 10 miles, turn around, and belly back down to Earth. Whether it’s SN8 next week, or SN9 or SN10 at a later date, it will definitely be a sight to see.