Trevor Mahlmann
It’s finally time to find out whether the Serial No. 9 prototype starship will become SN well or SN Nein.
After a series of static fire tests on its latest prototype spacecraft, SpaceX looks set to launch the full-scale vehicle as early as Monday afternoon from its rocket facility in South Texas. The nominal plane is for the prototype to rise to an altitude of up to 12.5 km, perform a “panic” maneuver to simulate the energy leak during a return through the Earth’s atmosphere, reorient and land near the launch pad.
Just over six weeks have passed since SpaceX conducted a similar test of the SN8 vehicle in South Texas. This flight test was splendidly close to the end of his flight. However, due to a pressure failure in a fuel tank at the top of the vehicle, the vehicle’s Raptor engines were deprived of the fuel needed to make a smooth landing.
Thus, the vehicle made a spectacular landing against the platform.
See the destination of the SN8.
Fortunately, the debris was soon removed. And at its nearby factory, SpaceX had the SN9 vehicle almost ready to go. He may have moved to the launch pad earlier, but in mid-December the SN9 prototype tilted, crashing into the wall of its high bay. This required several days of flap checks and replacements. Then there were problems with the Raptor engines that were discovered in several attempts at static fire. All this and more required intensive work to prepare the SN9 for its flight.
Sources said SpaceX is eager to put the SN9 in the sky because the SN10 itself is almost ready to spread its wings. We can probably expect the vehicle to be moved to the launch site within a few days of the SN9 flight, regardless of the outcome. Testing frequently for bugs is a feature of a hardware-rich program like the one SpaceX is using to develop the Starship.
The six-hour launch window for Monday’s test runs from noon on local time (18:00 UTC) to 18:00 (24:00 UTC). As with previous tests, a technical issue can cause the test campaign to abort your launch attempt at any time. If necessary, SpaceX has backup launch opportunities on Tuesday and Wednesday, although weather conditions appear to be more favorable for Tuesday.
SpaceX is likely to provide an official webcast of the launch attempt; if so, it will be incorporated here.