SpaceX Has a Good Starship Engine Firing So Next is the 150 Meter Hop

SpaceX has successfully had a static engine test firing for a Raptor engine and for Starship prototype.

SOURCES- Everyday Astronaut, SpaceX, Lab Padre
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

23 thoughts on “SpaceX Has a Good Starship Engine Firing So Next is the 150 Meter Hop”

  1. August 2019? But that was in the before times.

    Seriously, I encountered someone yesterday talking about B.C. meaning Before Coronavirus.

  2. Potentially correct on destructive testing, as they did the test with only a bit over 4 atm tank pressure, rather than the design target in excess of 8 atm.

    The thrust structure was not seriously challenged by output of a single engine. The test stand also would dampen any vibration induced fatigue .

  3. Ah, you’re right, the undershot angle was deceiving, making it look more centered than it actually was.

  4. I wonder what exactly they learned here, then; I don’t suppose that you’d get pogoing, for instance, without at least lifting off.

  5. I suspect you are correct. All the talent is being pulled in by stacking successes at SpaceX.

  6. Yes, it’s a bit clearer from the overhead shot. Looks like a real hazard in the telephoto.

    Though I suspect that if the full tank ruptured you might still see a problem.

  7. It’s not going to hop – they took off the engine. They’re going to do another pressure test and see what pressure it blows up at, just like with SN1. That’ll give them info on the robustness of the newer construction techniques they used for SN4. No point in trying to fit SN4 with RCS just for a hop. They’ll do that for SN5, which at least has the flaps to go beyond to 20km.

  8. Oh yes Mr. Penna, this children’s rhyme does indeed exist! You even spelled it 100% properly and it does translate correctly as “Hop, hop, hop – little horse run fast”. 

    However as you, probably not being a native german speaker, just can’t know easily this is only an aberration of another adult’s/youth’s rhyme which, being much straighter, funkier and rhymier, was chosen by me on this occasion, translating correctly as “Hop, hop, hop – beer enters head”.

  9. Waiting to see the big boy hop. Hoping to see the Starship flop. Not flop as in failing but flop as if diving.

  10. They didn’t install it onto the center of the vehicle. Probably because they didn’t want to waste time simulating and building a single thrust structure just for a test hop so they installed it into one of the three thrust structures that they’ve been making these sections with. So it’s slightly off center. The engine has a gimbal with 15 degrees of freedom, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Elon Musk has tweeted some photos of the under-section with the engine so you can see what’s going on there.

  11. Uh, wouldn’t installing a single raptor right in the center make it a symmetric install?

  12. The SLS will not fly – ever.
    They cannot get it to work at NASA.
    They are trying to overcome their incompetence by throwing enormous amounts of money at the project (these days, a single SLS engine costs 146 million $). They will fail – money alone are not sufficient, regardless of the amount.

  13. I would be too but it probably will.

    What’s funny is NASA seems to be going all-commercial with SpaceX/BO in just about every way.

  14. Oh, it will fly. Even it it takes other 100 billion dollars to launch the first and only.

  15. Isn´t the correct lyric of this children’s song: “hop hop hop pferdchen lauf galopp”?

  16. SLS is a jobs and pork program not a rocket program. I would be suprised if an SLS rocket ever gets off the ground.

  17. I wonder about the proximity of that gas flare and the venting; Is there any possibility of flammable/explosive concentrations reaching the flare from the test?

  18. They only installed one Raptor so it’s asymmetric and that makes the flight harder. SN5 is supposed to have many improvements so they still didn’t want to risk 3 raptors on this test article. Would be really cool if they manage to test a Super Heavy this year and do an orbital test before SLS!

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