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UPDATE: SpaceX successfully launched the Starship SN10 and then successfully landed, the first time the company landed one of the prototype rockets after a high altitude flight test.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is gearing up to launch the latest prototype of its next-generation starship rocket on Wednesday, in the system’s third high-altitude flight test.
The prototype starship rocket serial number 10, or SN10, will aim to launch and fly up to 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet in altitude. The rocket is constructed of stainless steel, representing the first versions of the rocket that Musk launched in 2019.
SpaceX briefly fired the rocket’s engines for a launch attempt at around 3:15 pm, but a “slightly conservative high thrust limit” caused the rocket to abort the attempt, Musk said in a tweet.
“Raising the thrust limit and recycling the propellant for another flight attempt today,” said Musk.
SpaceX’s main integration engineer, John Insprucker, said in the company’s webcast that he hopes to make another launch attempt.
The Federal Aviation Administration launch window for the SN10 attempt runs until 7:30 pm ET.
The company is developing Starship with the aim of launching cargo and people on missions to the Moon and Mars.
The prototype of the SN10 rocket is on the launch pad at the company’s facilities in Boca Chica, Texas.
SpaceX
The flight will be similar to those that SpaceX performed in December and February, when it tested the SN8 and SN9 prototypes, respectively. The previous two rockets completed several development goals – including tests of aerodynamics, shutting down engines in succession and turning to orient themselves for landing – but both prototypes exploded on impact as they tried to land, unable to slow down enough.
Like SN8 and SN9, the objective of flight SN10 is not necessarily to reach the maximum altitude, but to test several important parts of the starship system. The prototype of the starship is about 150 feet high, or approximately the size of a 15-story building, and is powered by three Raptor rocket engines. SpaceX will fire all three engines for take-off and then turn them off one at a time in the sequence, as it approaches the top of the intended flight altitude.
The SN10 will aim to transfer the propellant from the main tanks to the main tanks and then turn to the “belly-down” re-entry maneuver so you can control your descent through the air with the four rocket flaps. Then, in the final moments of the descent, SpaceX will make the flip return the rocket to a vertical orientation and fire the Raptor engines to slow down for an attempted landing.
While SpaceX has not yet successfully landed a prototype starship after a high altitude flight test, the company has landed previous prototypes after short flights at about 500 feet above sea level.
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