ENGINEERING TODAY
SPACEX boss Elon Musk has teased the Starship spacecraft is nearing its first orbital flight, sparking an online frenzy of excitement from fans.
Elon Musk tweeted on September 10th, Tuesday: “Getting ready for flight of orbit-class Starship design.”
The move on the part of SpaceX comes shortly after its Starhopper spacecraft completed a hover test. In late August during its test of the Starhopper, it was able to hover 500 feet above the ground at SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas facility. The hover lasted a little under a minute. The Starhopper landed back successfully on a landing pad that will be used to test the SpaceX Starship.
On September 9th, Monday, the first signs of SpaceX planning for Starship Mk1’s South Texas launch debut appeared in the form of FCC applications, requesting permission to communicate with the rocket prototype during its first flight.
This FCC filing came days after word from Business Insider that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was effectively granting SpaceX permission to expand its Boca Chica launch facility for the sake of SpaceX Starship launches.
The company also hasn’t tried to hide its construction work on the orbit-quality vehicle, and Musk has alluded to a September 28th update event that could show off the completed spacecraft. It’s poised to launch sometime in October, possibly as soon as the 13th.
The FAA application confirms several details about SpaceX Starship Mk1’s debut, revealing that SpaceX will kick off the test campaign with a running jump from Starhopper’s 150m flight-test hand-off.
The vehicle will fly more than two magnitudes higher than its stubby predecessor, reaching an altitude of 20 KILOMETER (12.5 miles)– and plans to land the spacecraft just a hundred or so feet from its launch site, on the same landing pad used by Starhopper. It’s not a true orbital test, then, but it’s clearly much closer to SpaceX’s goals.
In this video Engineering Today will discuss SpaceX’s Plans With its Starship Rocket. SpaceX Preps South Texas Launch Site for ‘Starship’ Rocket’s Test Flight. SpaceX confirms it’s almost ready to test its orbital Starship.
Let’s get into details.
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