For years, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been talking about what he will do when his company’s super-heavy-duty launch system is finally up and running! While some information was exchanged between 2011 and 2015, Musk didn’t start sharing detailed plans for this system until September 2017. By 2018, Musk announced that work on the Starship and Super-Heavy (formerly known as BFR) was underway.
In the past year, progress on the spaceship (despite some explosions) has come by leaps and bounds. This peaked on December 9, 2020 when the SN8 prototype ran a hop test that reached an altitude of 12.5 km and “belly flop” on the way down. According to the latest information, the SN9 could have a hop test by the end of this week!
As with previous tests, there were early indications that Cameron County was announcing road closures for State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach for Monday, January 4 through Wednesday, January 6. This coincided with news that ground teams at the South Texas Launch Facility (near the village of Boca Chica) would conduct a static fire test on the SN9 prototype on Wednesday, Jan. 6.
This test took place today at 4:07:13 p.m. CST (2:07:13 p.m. PST; 5:07:13 p.m. EST). This was a brief fire that lasted only a few seconds. Nevertheless, the test was successful and opens the door to a high-altitude flight test, which is expected to take place this week. This is based on recent Airline Notices (NOTAMs) issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The NOTAMs were released on Tuesday, January 5th, advising air traffic to avoid Jacksonville, Texas airspace from Friday, January 8th through Sunday, January 10th. This is in line with SpaceX’s iterative and rapid prototyping approach, where lessons learned from the last test are quickly carried over to the next less than a month later.
During the previous hop test with the SN8, both the ascent and belly flop maneuvers performed smoothly. This latter test involved turning off the engine as soon as the SN8 approached its maximum altitude and turning the spacecraft sideways to test its maneuvering fins and aerodynamic surfaces (which come into play when re-entering the atmosphere).
The SN8 performs its “belly flop” maneuver. Image Credit: SpaceX
Unfortunately, a glitch occurred after the SN8 brought its tail back and restarted one of its engines. The single Raptor did not have enough fuel pressure due to a problem with the fuel collection tank. As a result, the SN8 did not lose enough speed before landing and exploded on the launch pad. Musk, however, tweeted his approval of the overall test, vowing the data from it would prevent future accidents.
Fortunately, the ground teams were able to quickly renovate the landing site, which was a bit scorched and littered with debris! The engineering teams were also able to replace two damaged aerodynamic surfaces on the SN9, which was due to the SN9 falling over in the High Bay on December 13th. In the meantime the SN10 has been stacked and integrated into the High Bay and can be rolled out immediately as soon as the SN9 is ready for the hop test.
The SN11 and the SN12 are also installed in the mid bay of the system, the SN11 is almost finished and only needs its nose cone. From all of this, it’s safe to say that SpaceX has accelerated its rapid prototyping and testing process. With a little luck, they might be ready to do the first orbital flight test before 2021 is over!
Further reading: NASASpaceFlight
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