SpaceX swapping out two engines on Starship SN9 prototype sooner than take a look at flight

SpaceX’s SN9 Starship prototype performs its 2nd static-fire take a look at, on Jan. 13, 2021. Mutter captured by SPadre.com.

(Image: © SPadre.com by Twitter)

SpaceX’s most up-to-date Starship prototype needs some repairs work earlier than it could possibly clutch to the skies.

On Wednesday (Jan. 13), the Starship SN9 prototype performed three “static fire” checks in fleet succession at SpaceX’s South Texas place, firing up its three Raptor engines whereas the car remained anchored to the bottom.

These transient burns were section of the preflight routine for SN9, which is being groomed for a high-altitude take a look at. That broad hop can enjoy took situation as soon as this weekend, had Wednesday’s static fires long previous perfectly smoothly. But there were it sounds as if just a few hiccups.

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“Two of the engines need small repairs, so may be switched out,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated by Twitter early this morning (Jan. 15). 

Musk didn’t give a target birth date for SN9. But he did yell, in a single more tweet, that or now no longer it’s “doubtlessly vivid” to abolish one more static fire with the car after the engine swap is total. So a weekend birth for SN9 seems pretty now no longer going.

SpaceX is creating Starship to know of us and cargo to the moon, Mars and other distant destinations. The architecture includes a 165-foot-broad (50 meters) spacecraft called Starship and a broad rocket identified as Smooth Heavy. Each and every of these automobiles may be fully and by surprise reusable, Musk has stated.

SN9’s coming flight is anticipated to be linked to that of its predecessor, the three-engine SN8, which soared about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) into the Texas skies on Dec. 9. That flight, the principle high-altitude take a look at for any Starship prototype, went extraordinarily smartly, Musk has stated, even supposing SN8 didn’t stick its touchdown.

Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Gigantic Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e-book about the learn about alien lifestyles. Note him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Note us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Fb.