Elon Musk announced First STATIC Fire LIFTED 300 Tons Raptor Engines will change everything…
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SpaceX is moving towards its first orbital test of the Starship.
This month, Starship passed static fire tests for the first time, starting all six engines simultaneously. That successful static fire test of all upper-stage engines allows us to hope that the current Starship 24 prototype is ready for testing.
Next in line are even more grandiose tests of the Super Heavy accelerator with 33 engines. So far, the accelerator has been tested by static fire 7 engines in 7 seconds, but the prototype was later rolled back to the Starship factory for “robustness upgrades ahead of flight”.
Musk has indicated that those upgrades might involve fortifying Super Heavy Booster 7’s thrust section to ensure it can survive Raptor engine failures. With 33 Raptor V2 engines powering it and plenty of evidence that those Raptors are far from perfect reliability, the concern is understandable, even if the response is a bit different than SpaceX’s norm.
Well, you know, Super Heavy is insanely powerful when all engines kick-off. The proof is the black burnt streaks on the OLM’s pedestal after Booster static fire. After the test of only 7 engines, the team was immediately upgrading and testing the Water deluge system on this structure.
In additions, more than 30 workers on the Orbital Launch Mount with Sparks flying everywhere 24/7 over the last few days installed additional blast shielding to protect the interior of the structure, and prepare for the next historic static fire.
For a full wet dress rehearsal (WDR), which has also never been done with Super Heavy, SpaceX would need to fill the booster with around 3400 tons (7.5M lb) of propellant. Out of an abundance of caution, Super Heavy B7 will likely have far less propellant aboard during almost all of its static fire tests, but a full static fire with a full load of propellant – simulating most prelaunch conditions – will likely be one of the last main goals of any static fire campaign. At full thrust, 33 Raptor 2 engines will likely burn around 25 tons (~55,000 lb) of propellant per second, so a huge amount of propellant will be needed regardless.
Elon Musk announced First STATIC Fire LIFTED 300 Tons Raptor Engines will change everything…
Elon Musk announced First STATIC Fire LIFTED 300 Tons Raptor Engines will change everything…
