SpaceX switches off one of the three Raptor engines Starship SN10 prototype, which probably pushes the test flight of the vehicle back a bit.
The exchange decision was taken yesterday (February 23), shortly after SN10 (‘Serial Number 10’) first set its engines on fire during a ‘static fire’ test at SpaceX’s South Texas facilities.
“One of the engines is suspicious, so we are exchanging it,” said founder and CEO of the company. Elon Musk said via Twitter yesterday.
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The static fire was part of SN10’s preparatory work for an approximately 10-mile-high air test shop in Texas, which could have happened already Thursday (February 25). The engine change will probably slow down the flight a bit, but it’s unclear how much; Musk did not name a new timeline.
SN10 will be the third Starship prototype to fly so high. The SN8 and SN9 vehicles performed similar flights on 9 December 2020 and 2 February respectively. Both flew well to the end and previously checked many milestones crashes at the landing zone.
Like that of SN10, SN9’s path to flight included an engine change. SpaceX replaces two of SN9’s three engines after the vehicle quickly followed up on static fires on January 13th.
SpaceX is developing Starship to bring humans and cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond. The system consists of two reusable elements: a 50 meter long spacecraft called Starship and a giant rocket called Super Heavy. The last Starship will have six Raptors, and Super Heavy will be powered by about 30 of the engines, Musk said.
SpaceX wants a Starship prototype to make a test flight somewhere this year. And Musk recently said he thinks the final vehicle will be in operation by 2023.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.