Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

January 19 news, according to foreign media reports, SpaceX is preparing this week for the starship (Starship) super heavy booster for the first full-engine static ignition test. This means that after a year and a half of waiting, the starship is about to make its first trip into space.

Before that, SpaceX had never conducted static ignition tests on 33 Raptor rocket engines carried by super heavy rockets at the same time.

The starship that plans to send astronauts to the moon and more humans to Mars is likely to conduct its first orbital flight test within weeks. At present, the SpaceX led by Elon Musk (Elon Musk) is making final preparations for this.

A series of recent operations and related reports from SpaceX's starship base in Texas suggest that the No. 7 super-heavy booster is likely to conduct static ignition tests this week, the first time SpaceX has ignited all 33 Raptor rocket engines carried by the rocket.

The local government has announced that highways and beaches near the starship base may be closed from Wednesday to Friday and next Monday and Tuesday. It is reported that SpaceX's static ignition test is scheduled for Friday.

SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

When the engineer carries out the static ignition test, the booster will be fixed on the test-bed, and the rocket engine will start briefly to test and collect the performance data before launch. SpaceX conducted static ignition tests on the No. 7 super heavy booster last year, but only started some of the engines carried by the rocket. This is the first time to start all 33 rocket engines.

If SpaceX successfully completes the static ignition test, it means that SpaceX is about to complete all its pre-launch preparations before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues a launch license to the company. Musk has previously said that starships will eventually fly into space at the end of February or early March this year.

The most recent flight of the starship was in 2021, when the prototype SN15 rose to an altitude of 10 kilometers without a super-heavy booster and then successfully returned to land. In the upcoming first orbital flight test of the starship system, the super-heavy booster will carry the prototype of the spacecraft into orbit, separate and land on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico. After a short trip into space in Earth orbit, the starship plans to splash down on the coast of Hawaii.

If all goes well with the starship's first orbital flight, there will be more testing activities in 2023. Currently, SpaceX is participating in NASA's Artemis moon landing program, which plans to use starships to send cargo and astronauts to the moon.

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