SpaceX on Monday (September 19) launched seven engines on its SuperShip Super Heavy “Booster 7” prototype, scoring the largest number of the company’s new Raptor engines tested simultaneously.
The company is testing some of the Booster 7’s engines ahead of its first planned orbital flight Spaceship, a 165 ft (50 m) long reusable spacecraft that will be carried into orbit by 33 next-generation Raptor engines in a 230 ft (70 m) long Super Heavy booster. The starship will be equipped with six engines.
To prepare for the spaceship’s maiden orbital flight, SpaceX “Stationary fire” tests conducted in which one or more engines are started while the vehicle remains stationary on the ground.
video: SpaceX fires multiple engines on Starship Super Heavy for the first time
After today’s static fire test, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the chamber was pressurizing all seven engines.looks good (Opens in a new tab). ”
In a later tweet, Mask the advertiser (Opens in a new tab) That “Booster 7 has now returned to a high level for power and Booster 8 upgrades are turning into a test bed,” adding that the company’s next big test of the Starship system will be “a full stack test,” then 33 engines running in a few weeks. ”The” full stack “is the Starship atop a Super Heavy booster rocket, which together form the tallest rocket in the world at 395 feet (120 meters).
Booster 7 is now back in place for durability and 8 motion damping boosters for testing. Perhaps the next big test will be a full stack attempt, so 33 engines in a few weeks.September 19, 2022
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SpaceX’s latest static fire doubled the number of engines seen in the latest Super Heavy test on August 31, during which the company started a static fire. With three Raptor engines. This was the company’s first multi-engine static fire with the Super Heavy booster, although SpaceX had previously tested two of its six Starship Raptors at the same time. Fire prevented on 9 August.
SpaceX hasn’t released an expected date to test the entire spacecraft stack, but has indicated that it plans to launch the vehicle for orbital testing in the coming months.
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