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Rocket builders must carry out multiple static fire tests of their boosters before they try to escape Earth’s gravity for the first time. This process involves firing up one or more engines for a short period.
SpaceX is testing the engines on its next-generation Starship spacecraft that will be launched aboard its massive Super Heavy rocket when it embarks on its maiden orbital flight in the coming months.
Ship 24 completes a single-engine static fire test at Starbase in Texas pic.twitter.com/gF9beLcarX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 15, 2022
A Unique Glimpse Of What’s Coming
While many videos of engine tests show the rocket from a side angle, SpaceX did something unique by providing space enthusiasts with a camera angle directly above the Starship when it fired up its engine for around six seconds. The tests are being carried out at the SpaceX Starbase facility in Texas.
— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) December 15, 2022
SpaceX might have used a drone to capture the overhead angle of the test. The conventional side angles of the test were also shared on Twitter. Elon Musk released some great footage a few months ago showing a static fire test of seven Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines.
7 engine static fire pic.twitter.com/sOm8Jx8rJq
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2022
When the Super Heavy takes off for its first-ever flight in the coming days, it will become the most powerful rocket to embrace the skies. It packs 17 million pounds of thrust, double the amount the Saturn V rocket packs. It is also way more powerful than NASA’s recently launched Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which was used to propel the Orion capsule to the lunar orbit.
Starship To Ferry Astronauts
NASA will be leveraging the Super Heavy Starship to ferry astronauts and cargo to the Moon, and it could even be used for the first crewed mission to Mars, which is expected to happen in the 2030s.
But before any of these missions take place, SpaceX plans to use the Starship to launch the first civilian flight to the Moon in the coming years. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has already purchased all the tickets to this trip and has announced the eight passengers joining him on this week-long journey of a lifetime.
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published: Sunday, December 18, 2022, 7:15 [IST]
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