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The company part of the SpaceX Starship hopper prototype.
Elon Musk / SpaceX
The prototype of Elon Musk's ship nicknamed "Starhopper" did not march as planned Monday, but SpaceX is trying again Tuesday afternoon.
Starhopper scheduled for Monday was delayed by two hours, then was abandoned, the countdown was exhausted and the engine Raptor engine was not turned on. This means that the sooner we could see the second and final flight of the hopper is 14h. PT (4 pm Texas time).
SpaceX began stream streaming from its test launch in Boca Chica, Texas, just minutes before the scheduled launch time on Monday. So it's wise to watch the company's YouTube channel on Tuesday to get the best view of the jump. Meanwhile, local YouTubers like LabPadre have 24-hour live streams trained at Starhopper:
The Federal Aviation Administration has revised SpaceX's experimental license to have the rocket prototype fly at a maximum altitude of 150 meters (492 feet) above the ground. The revised license was signed Friday and posted on the FAA website on Monday morning.
This allowed the single-engine version of the next-generation Musk rocket to take off once again. Officials in Cameron County, Texas, issued a notice to local residents advising them to prepare for "spaceflight activities" this week.
SpaceX had planned to test the single-engine version of its future Mars vehicle with its second short flight earlier this month, but the launch was abruptly canceled. Musk later tweeted that the Federal Aviation Administration needed a little more risk analysis and that Starhopper "should be able to take off soon".
The FAA has released a new airspace closure in the area around the SpaceX test facility, from Monday afternoon until Wednesday evening.
With the new license issued, we could finally see Starhopper doing serious maneuvers. His last test hopOn July 25, the flight was short-lived, a hovering flight and a 20-foot (66-foot) night landing, masked by fire, smoke and darkness.
This time, we hope that Starhopper will reach an altitude of nearly 150 meters before returning to the ground.
If this next jump is successful, said Musk, he will follow with a public presentation "hopefully mid-September", informing us of the design and vision of Starship.
It will probably make sense to do this when Starship Mk 1 will have 3 Raptors, moving body ailerons and a landing gear installed, which is, hopefully, mid-September
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2019
In previous presentations, Musk presented his project to use his next-generation heavy rocket (also known previously as the BFR or Big Falcon Rocket) to help build one. colony on Mars, send a group of artists on travel around the moon and even organize transcontinental journeys on Earth.
But before that happens, Starhopper has to show that he has real chops, hopefully soon.
Originally released on August 22nd.
Update of August 26th at 17:31 PT: Adds information about the interrupted launch, the next closest launch time.
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