SpaceX's Starship SN4 Prototype Fires Rocket Engine For First Time (space.com) 19
SpaceX's newest Starship prototype has fired its engine for the first time, potentially paving the way for a test flight in the very near future. Space.com reports: The SN4, the latest test version of SpaceX's Mars-colonizing Starship vehicle, aced a "static fire" Tuesday night (May 5), lighting up its single Raptor engine briefly while remaining on the ground at the company's South Texas facilities. "Starship SN4 passed static fire," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter late on Tuesday. [You can see video of the static fire here.] With the static fire in the rearview mirror, SpaceX can begin prepping the SN4 for its next big moment: an uncrewed test flight, which Musk has said will take the vehicle to a target altitude of about 500 feet (150 meters).
Re: 3 days ago (Score:2)
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Every time any Musk company does anything, no matter how trivial, it is worthy of praise and worship. He's the real life Tony Stark!
Yeah, it's getting tiresome.
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I dunno, I'm pretty sure it's a team of talented engineers that did it. I think that's newsworthy. Don't you?
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The fired up an engine that they have previously fired up, only this time assembled into the vehicle. Meh.
This is all a normal part of the development process. We don't need to hear about every little step along the way. We don't get that for other spacecraft, it's only when SpaceX does it and Musk tweets about it.
He's built a cult of personality.
Re:3 days ago (Score:4, Insightful)
On a nerd website, this is exactly the kind of thing to hear about.
What we don't need are all the political stories.
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ULA test firing another Altas V is meh. Nobody's expecting that to go sideways.
"Hey guys, wanna see us test fire the rocket we banged together in 2 months" -- much higher explosion percentage than ULA. I mean we all know that SN4 is going to blow up at some point in time. The only question is when. I think we're at the point now where SN4 will likely blow up during flight or attempted flight. That
Re:3 days ago (Score:4, Insightful)
Not necessarily - it could be another complete disappointment like Starhopper. Launch a grain silo into the air on a column of flame, and then set it down again without even a decent crash. Though hey, with those short stubby legs and an off-center engine we can hope it at least tips over as it lands, right?
I think that's all they've got planned for SN4. I mean, scaling up the pressure tanks clearly gave them some problems, but now they've got tested tanks, a tested engine, and software that was able to fly and land a shorter (=much less stable) rocket just fine.
It's SN5 where the real tests begin, that one is likely to be tested enough to blow up properly.
Yes they did this four days ago (Score:4, Informative)
They did the pressure test on Tuesday.
They did the static fire test on Wednesday.
Today is Saturday.
There are a lot of us in the real world who follow SpaceX. We're not waiting for /. to pick up on it over half a week later.
*tap* *tap*
If you can't "report' on it in a timely manner, just let it go. The media already covered it. Some of us watched it live.
E
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Oh come on, this is nerd bs, not political stories!
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Yep, they even did a *second* static fire test a little over a day later. Maybe we'll get mention of that one tomorrow?
"Mars-colonizing"? (Score:2)
LOL.
Re: "Mars-colonizing"? (Score:1)
Is it artificially intelligent? (Score:2)
"SpaceX's Starship SN4 Prototype Fires Rocket Engine For First Time"
SpaceX Fires Starship SN4 Prototype's Rocket Engine For First Time
HTH, HAND