SpaceX performed a full-duration static fire of all six Raptor engines on its Starship spacecraft on Monday, and shared a video of the dramatic test on social media.
Full-duration static fire of all six Raptor engines on Flight 4 Starship pic.twitter.com/HzS4SeaoEV
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 25, 2024
The static fire, which involved tethering the vehicle to the ground before igniting the engines, took place ahead of the fourth test flight of the entire rocket, which consists of the first-stage Super Heavy — the most powerful booster in the world — and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft. Collectively, and somewhat confusingly, the entire vehicle is known as the Starship.
The Starship spacecraft deploys its rocket engines once it’s separated from the Super Heavy booster. One of the engines’ most important roles is to guide and slow the spacecraft as it descends for an upright landing, whether on Earth or some other celestial body. The Starship achieved such a landing during testing in a solo suborbital flight in 2021.
As with the first two test missions, which took place in April and November last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is overseeing an investigation into the third test flight that took place earlier this month. Once that is complete, the FAA will likely hand SpaceX a permit for the fourth flight, which SpaceX believes could get airborne as early as May.
The Starship has performed better with each flight, with the third test achieving a slew of firsts that included getting the Starship spacecraft to orbit. SpaceX engineers have been taking data collected from each test mission and using it to improve the flight systems, and therefore much is expected from the fourth flight.
Once fully tested, the 120-meter-tall Starship rocket is expected to carry crew and cargo to the moon, and possibly even to Mars. But a lot of development work still has to be completed before the rocket is deemed safe enough for such ambitious missions.
Editors’ Recommendations
SpaceX already has a date in mind for next Starship launch
SpaceX shares awesome rocket imagery from Starship flight
SpaceX’s Starship reaches orbit on third test flight
How to watch SpaceX launch the third flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday
SpaceX’s mighty Starship rocket stacked for 3rd test flight
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to watch homecoming SpaceX astronauts fly overhead on Tuesday
SpaceX’s Crew-7 astronauts undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 11:20 a.m. ET on Monday after a six-and-a-half-month stay aboard the orbital outpost.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico at around 5:50 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning. If the skies are clear, folks in more than a dozen states will be able to witness the crew’s homecoming as the capsule flies overhead.
Read more
How to watch SpaceX Crew-7 return to Earth this week
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 Re-entry and Splashdown
SpaceX’s Crew-7 is preparing to depart the International Space Station (ISS) after a six-and-a-half-month stay aboard the orbital outpost some 250 miles above Earth. NASA will live-stream all of the key moments of the homecoming (full details below).
Read more
Surreal video shows SpaceX rocket booster coming home
SpaceX spent years developing a spaceflight system that enables it to reuse the first stage of its Falcon 9 booster.
It does this by landing the booster upright just minutes after it has deployed the rocket’s second stage. After that, it’s checked over, refurbished, and sent out for another mission. Some of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 boosters have made nearly 20 flights, and other parts of the vehicle, such as the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the fairing, can also be used for multiple missions.
Read more
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Digital Trends – https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/watch-spacex-fire-up-starship-ahead-of-fourth-test-flight/