SpaceX sets dates for Starship static fire, high-altitude launch debut

CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX is place to attempt one last Raptor engine inactive fire test before placing Starship during its inaugural launching introduction later this week.

Liable to begin as soon as November 30th per public street closing notices, Musk says that Starship consecutive number 8’s (SN8) launch introduction – equally Starship’s fully-assembled flight test and first high-altitude launch attempt – is now scheduled no earlier than (NET) 8 am to 5 pm CST (UTC-6) on Wednesday, December 2nd.

November 30th will instead host what’s thought to be a special type of static fire test for Starship SN8, ideally demonstrating that the rocket has a nice shot at surviving its risky launch introduction.

Only a static fire tomorrow. Flight no earlier than Wednesday.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2020

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As mentioned previously on Teslarati, SpaceX’s Starship development plan means that SN8’s survival is much less important than it might appear.

“On November 25th, Starship SN9 (containing “small advancements ”-RRB- was stacked to its total 50-meter (~165 ft) height. When SN8 is ruined during testing, then SN9 will likely be prepared to roll into the launching site almost once the dust settles.Meanwhile, Starship SN10 is likely just 7-10 days away from a similar nosecone stacking milestone, also Starship SN11’s tank segment is merely one stack away from completion, likely putting it less than two weeks supporting SN10. In other words, insofar as rate is a priority and every prototype is anywhere close to as economical because Starship’s majority-steel bill of materials might suggest, SpaceX is constructing Starships so fast that it almost doesn’t even seem sensible to invest more than a few weeks working throughout bugs on just one suborbital ship. ”Teslarati.com — November 25th, 2020

In fact, delaying SN8’s launch to attempt and refine the enemy in situ and much better guarantee success could actually be to the detriment of successive prototypes and the Starship app generally. If, as an example, a basic design flaw is shown at Starship SN8 only after the model ’s test flight, then SpaceX could be forced to squander a huge amount of work completed for as many as six, seven, eight, or more subsequent prototypes. In that as, while it can seem like caution maximizes the worth any single Starship prototype can supply SpaceX, which ’s only true as long as the Starship design is mature enough that fresh basic flaws are unlikely to arise.

Given how young SpaceX’s Loaded Starship development application isalso, it would make very little sense to deadline months of work and more than half of a dozen enemy prototypes on the high quality and success of a less mature prototype unless most of the vehicles in question are more or less identical final products. SN8 throughout SN15+ aren’t final products in the feeling that Starship is meant to be the greatest dialing orbital spacecraft ever constructed.

Therefore, the Starship application is likely better off when SpaceX pushes vehicles to collapse as fast as reasonably possible. Having now spent more than two months in the launch pad while less than three full-scale prototypes quickly approach a similar degree of completion, Starship SN8’s test flow is likely an overcorrection from a haphazardly rushed schedule to extreme caution.

Along those lines, SpaceX is now hopefully set on launching Starship SN8 over the not too distant future. To begin with, however, the company apparently plans to attempt another Raptor engine static fire test on Monday, November 30th. Scheduled between 7 am and 9 pm CST, the test has been called a “handoff” inactive fire, referring to the process of switching each Raptor motor ’s propellant feed from Starship’s primary tank into much smaller ‘header’ tanks reserved for landings.

To property, Starship SN8 will need to successfully switch from primary to both secondary propellant tanks and spark one, two, or all three Raptor engines multiple times in near proximity. (Elon Musk)

Starship SN5’s common methane and oxygen tank dividers (and round methane header tank) is pictured here on May 1st. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

What exactly that handoff refers to is unclear. It could mean that SN8 will switch from primary tanks into header tanks through a Raptor static fire test, although it’s unsure why this capability would be mandatory unless Starship’s current header tank design is too small. “Handoff” could also refer to the process of switching between header and main tanks involving Raptor operations – much more likely. In other words, Starship SN8’s Monday testing could entail two back-to-back fires that are inactive, performed with no human intervention. If effective, such a handoff static fire would simultaneously test Starship’s capability switch propellant sources and perform multiple Raptor engine ignitions – both essential for a landing and launch.

Starship SN9 was stacked to its full height on November 25th and must be structurally complete in a few days. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

Musk himself believes that Starship SN8 includes a 33% chance of successfully launching, attaining apogee, stably ‘skydiving’ ~14 km (~9 mi) back into Earth, reigniting Raptor engines, and landing in one piece. It’s unclear what will occur in the improbable event that SN8 survives, however, Starship SN9 is almost nipping in the comparatively ancient model ’s insides.

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