SpaceX’s subsequent Starship automobile has breathed fireplace forward of its coming check flight.
A 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship higher stage simply fired up all six of its Raptor engines in a full-duration “static fireplace” check at SpaceX’s Starbase website in South Texas, the corporate announced today (March 25).
Static fires, during which engines are briefly lit whereas a automobile stays anchored to the pad, are widespread prelaunch assessments. SpaceX performed this one to prep for the fourth Starship check flight, which may happen as quickly as early Might.
Associated: Relive SpaceX Starship’s third flight check in breathtaking images
Full-duration static fireplace of all six Raptor engines on Flight 4 Starship pic.twitter.com/HzS4SeaoEVMarch 25, 2024
SpaceX continues to be analyzing information from the third Starship flight, which launched from Starbase on March 14.
The 400-foot-tall (122 m) megarocket — which consists of the higher stage, often called Ship, and the massive Tremendous Heavy first-stage booster — carried out fairly nicely on that check mission, based on SpaceX.
For instance, each levels aced their ascent burns, and Tremendous Heavy performed a profitable “boostback” burn to get in place for a splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico. The booster’s touchdown burn did not go based on plan, nonetheless, and it ended up breaking up about 1,650 toes (500 m) above the waves.
Ship flew for about 50 minutes and notched numerous milestones, together with efficiently opening and shutting its payload door. However the craft broke aside throughout its reentry to Earth’s ambiance, so it did not splash down within the Indian Ocean as deliberate.
Starship’s first two check flights, in April 2023 and November 2023, ended after simply 4 minutes and eight minutes, respectively.
SpaceX goals to conduct six or extra Starship check flights this yr, in an effort to get the absolutely reusable automobile up and operating and quick as attainable.
However the timing of flights is just not solely as much as the corporate; there are regulatory hurdles to clear as nicely, mainly the securing of launch licenses from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is at present overseeing the investigation into what occurred on Starship’s third flight, and it is unclear when that work might be achieved.
