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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch the latest prototype of its next-generation Starship rocket on Wednesday, in the system’s third high-altitude flight test.
Starship prototype missile serial number 10, or SN10, will attempt to launch and fly up to 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet in altitude. The rocket is made of stainless steel and represents the early versions of the rocket that Musk unveiled in 2019.
SpaceX fired the rocket’s engines shortly before a launch attempt at about 3:15 p.m. ET, but a “somewhat conservative high thrust limit” caused the rocket to halt the attempt, Musk said in a tweet.
“Raising the thrust limit and recycling propellant for another flight attempt today,” said Musk.
SpaceX chief integration engineer John Insprucker said on the company’s webcast that it expects to make another launch attempt.
The Federal Aviation Administration launch window for the SN10 attempt will run until 7:30 p.m. ET.
The company is developing Starship with the aim of launching cargo and people on missions to the Moon and Mars.
The spaceship’s prototype rocket SN10 is on the launch pad at the company’s factory in Boca Chica, Texas.
SpaceX
The flight will be similar to that of SpaceX conducted in December and February, when it tested prototypes SN8 and SN9 respectively. Both earlier missiles completed several development goals – including aerodynamic testing, sequentially shutting down the engines, and turning to orient for landing – but both prototypes exploded on impact while attempting to land, but failed to slow down enough.
Like SN8 and SN9, the purpose of the SN10 flight is not necessarily to reach the maximum altitude, but rather to test several important parts of the Starship system. The Starship prototype is about 50 meters high, or about the size of a 15-story building, and is powered by three Raptor rocket engines. SpaceX will fire all three engines for takeoff, then shut them down one by one in succession as it nears the top of the intended flight altitude.
SN10 aims to transfer propellant from the main tanks to the main tanks and then turn itself over for the “belly flop” reentry maneuver so that he can control his descent through the air with the rocket’s four valves. Then, in the final moments of descent, SpaceX will flip the rocket and return the rocket to a vertical orientation and fire the Raptor engines to slow itself down for a landing attempt.
Although SpaceX is not yet due to land a prototype of a Starship after a high-altitude flight test, the company has landed earlier prototypes after short flights to about 150 meters.
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