Everything's going well with SpaceX's largest rocket.
The private space company recently announced that its latest Starship Booster 9 static fire test today was a success while admitting that it could have gone better due to some setbacks.
SpaceX has yet to reveal when it would launch its Starship rocket for its next test flight following the "rapid unscheduled disassembly" of the first test flight in April experienced.
A picture of SpaceX's Starship rocket as it stands on the launch pad following a launch delay of the SpaceX Starship flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on April 17, 2023.
A Test For What's To Come
SpaceX had a field day on Aug. 6. According to Space.com, the first-stage prototype of the company's Starship rocket, Booster 9, managed to pass a static fire test. The company fired all of its Raptor engines while the prototype was anchored to the orbital launch mount at its Starbase site in South Texas.
While considered a success, there were some problems, albeit small, with the rocket's Raptor engines. Of the 33 that roared to life on that test, four of them shut down prematurely, which meant less thrust for the rocket's first stage.
The premature shutdown of four of the 33 Raptor engines showed that SpaceX is still struggling with the reliability of its Raptor engines despite the work its engineers put into improving their performance, per Ars Technica.
As of press time, SpaceX's Starship rocket is powered by Raptor 2 engines; the company is working on an upgraded "Raptor 3" version to address engine reliability. Despite the setback, SpaceX still saw the test as a success as 29 out of 33 isn't bad - both Booster 9 and its orbital launch mount emerged from the test in one piece, unlike the first Starship SpaceX test launched.
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"A big congrats to the Starship team for getting through today's test," SpaceX's John Insprucker said during the company's Aug. 6 webcast. "That moves us another step closer to our next flight test."
When's The Next Test Flight?
While SpaceX has yet to reveal when it will launch its Starship rocket for its next test flight, the fact that it did its static fire test on a Sunday shows there is some urgency with SpaceX's launch campaign. Whether this urgency means that a test launch is possible in the next few months is still debatable.
Nevertheless, SpaceX has made considerable progress and improvements since its first Starship test flight on Apr. 20, when the rocket experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" (an explosion) and caused environmental damage in Florida. These improvements include installing a large water deluge system (and successfully testing it).
SpaceX also tested this system during its Aug. 6 static fire test. It includes a thick, perforated steel plate beneath the rocket where jets of water are fired to offset the heat and acoustic energy of Starship's 33 Raptor engines firing simultaneously, producing immense amounts of steam.
The company did well creating this water deluge system. A coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups is currently suing the FAA for failing to take a closer look at the environmental risks posed by SpaceX's operations in its Boca Chica launch site.
The creation of such a system will help SpaceX's efforts to get a new launch license for Starship's next test flight.
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