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The most recent from SpaceX Starship The prototype came to life three times today (January 13), apparently keeping the vehicle on track for a high altitude test flight in the near future.
The three-engine SN9 conducted its second, third and fourth “static fire” tests in rapid succession today (January 13) at SpaceX facilities in South Texas, near the coastal village of Boca Chica. Gulf of Mexico. The engines came on briefly at 1:28 p.m. EST (6:28 p.m. GMT), again at 3:22 p.m. EST (2022 GMT), and again at 4:36 p.m. EST (9:36 p.m. GMT).
In static fires, engines burn briefly while a vehicle remains tied to the ground. SN9 already had such a test to its credit, having completed a short static fire on January 6.
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“The three static fires are over and no RUDs!” Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX said via Twitter this afternoon. (RUD is short for “quick and unexpected teardown,” Musk’s favorite euphemism for “explosion”.)
“Detanking and inspections now. Good progress towards our” Hop in & go to Mars! “objective”, he added another tweet.
Detanking and inspections now. Good progress towards our “Hop in & go to Mars!” goal.January 13, 2021
These tests are part of preparations for the launch of SN9, which will take off in the days or weeks to come if all goes as planned. SN9’s flight is expected to be similar to that performed last month by its predecessor, SN8, which soared about 12.5 kilometers into the skies over South Texas.
SN8 is no more; it descended too quickly and exploded in its designated landing zone. But the vehicle checked just about all of its other boxes, prompting the SpaceX founder and CEO Elon musk to declare the December 9 test mission – the very first high altitude flight for a Starship vehicle – a resounding success.
SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and payloads to the Moon, Mars and other distant destinations. The transport system consists of two reusable parts: a 165-foot-tall (50-meter) spacecraft called the Starship and a gigantic rocket known as the Super Heavy.
Starship and Super Heavy will be powered by SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine. The final ship will carry six Raptors, Musk said, and Super Heavy will feature around 30 of the engines.
The ship will be powerful enough to launch off the Moon and Mars, but it will need the help of Super Heavy to leave our much more massive planet. (After putting Starship into Earth orbit, Super Heavy will return to Earth for a vertical landing, ideally directly on the launch stand.)
Musk has set an ambitious timeline for Starship, stating that the system should start launching people to Mars by 2026 and could even do it in 2024 “if we’re lucky.” So expect testing in South Texas to increase dramatically in the months and years to come.
We might see another static fire or two before SN9 goes up. SN8 carried out four static fires in the course of about a month before taking off, after all. These tests are closely watched by Starship observers such as the tourist site Spadre.com.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 5:20 p.m. EST on January 13 to include news of the third static fire of the day.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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