SpaceX took the first step towards another highly anticipated orbital test flight later this year after it conducted a static fire of the Starship second stage spacecraft earlier today. Starship, which aims to be the world's largest rocket when operational, is currently under development at Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX conducted the first Starship orbital test in April, and the event marked the first time that the massive rocket's Super Heavy booster took to the skies. SpaceX's confidence in its equipment was evident as it chose to fly the booster with the second stage for the first test instead of simply testing the booster first. Since then, the firm has made countless changes to the rocket and added concrete to the launch pad as well, with the aim to add a water cooling system later as well.
SpaceX Conducts Brief Six Second Static Fire Of Starship Second Stage As It Steps Up The Pace To Orbital Launch
Today's static came soon after SpaceX shared on its Twitter page that it had conducted a spin prime test of the upper stage. A spin prime test checks the rocket's engine pumps, and the static fire came within days of the test. By the looks of it, the test was a success and SpaceX soon confirmed on its Twitter later on that the test was a success.
Before the firm's tweet, the test was caught by dedicated onlookers, and their footage revealed large dust clouds rising from the test site. These were quite reminiscent of the Starship orbital test launch in April, and SpaceX's footage provided better views as it showed the top of the rocket with a 'skirt' of dust surrounding its bottom.
The static fire started at 7:27 pm local time and lasted for six seconds. According to SpaceX, it used six Raptor 2 engines on the Starship rocket. By the looks of it, the test fire was a success. However, SpaceX chief Elon Musk did not respond to queries on Twitter about the test - perhaps because he has been outside the U.S. recently.
Musk did share dozens of details about the upcoming Starship orbital test flight over the weekend. According to him, SpaceX will make more than a thousand changes to the Starship rocket. The most important of these is a new staging mechanism for the rocket, that will now see the engines on the second stage light up while it is attached to the first stage. To ensure that the first stage is not damaged by this, SpaceX will add vents to the first stage so that the thrust of the rocket is diverted outwards. This will be the first time in its history that SpaceX attempts such a mechanism, as its Falcon 9 rocket relies on a relatively safer pneumatic mechanism that pushes the two rockets away from each other before the second stage's Merlin 1D engine ignites.
Another important upgrade that SpaceX is making on Starship is on the Raptor 2 engine's hot gas manifold. Musk shared that the manifold has a tendency to leak due to loose bolts, and insinuating from his comments, the rockets which will take part in the second orbital test flight should feature upgraded Raptor 2 engines.
Refference- https://wccftech.com
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