The first tests for the Starship engines, the launch system consisting of a rocket and shuttle designed by SpaceX to bring astronauts to the Moon and Mars in the future, have been passed. According to the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, the first flight could be as early as November, but before confirming the date, many obstacles will have to be overcome, especially of a bureaucratic nature.
“Hopefully Starship will be ready for its first orbital launch attempt next month, pending approval from the regulatory agency”, is the tweet published by Musk a few hours after the successful first ignition of a Raptor. ’empty’, one of the engines that will have to ensure the thrust of the huge Staship shuttle out of the Earth’s atmosphere, for example to allow it to restart from the lunar or Martian surface.
So far the tests with the Starship, the shuttle that will have to be mounted on top of the Super Heavy rocket and which overall would become the most powerful spacecraft ever made with a double thrust compared to the Saturn V of the Apollo missions, had been carried out only with the suitable engines. to function in the earth’s atmosphere.
First firing of a Raptor vacuum engine integrated onto a Starship pic.twitter.com/uCNAt8Kwzo
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 22, 2021
The new tests carried out at the Boca Chica base in Texas led to the ignition for at least twice and for several seconds of one of the nozzles, with larger nozzles than those used so far, mounted in the SN20 prototype. This new transition to ‘no-load’ engines therefore represents a fundamental milestone for the start of the first true space mission of this long-awaited new means of transport.
But it could be administrative issues that change SpaceX’s plans. The flight must be authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which, however, has an open investigation into the environmental impacts of SpaceX’s operations underway. The decision could take a long time and in the meantime the launches will all be suspended.
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