Starship prototype #25 is rolled to launchpad for static fire engine tests
Click for original image.
SpaceX yesterday evening rolled its 25th prototype of its Starship spacecraft to its suborbital launchpad at Boca Chica, as shown on the image to the right, for a planned static fire engine test of its six Raptor engines.
If all goes well, the company hopes to stack this prototype on top of the ninth prototype of Superheavy and complete the second test orbital flight of the entire rocket as early as June 15, 2023, with a launch window as long as six months according to the company’s FCC communications license application.
The actual launch date however remains very uncertain, for several reasons. The FAA must issue a launch license, and it won’t do that until it is satisfied the investigation into the first launch failure is complete. That launch approval will also likely be delayed because of the lawsuit against that agency for issuing the previous launch license.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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Click for original image.
SpaceX yesterday evening rolled its 25th prototype of its Starship spacecraft to its suborbital launchpad at Boca Chica, as shown on the image to the right, for a planned static fire engine test of its six Raptor engines.
If all goes well, the company hopes to stack this prototype on top of the ninth prototype of Superheavy and complete the second test orbital flight of the entire rocket as early as June 15, 2023, with a launch window as long as six months according to the company’s FCC communications license application.
The actual launch date however remains very uncertain, for several reasons. The FAA must issue a launch license, and it won’t do that until it is satisfied the investigation into the first launch failure is complete. That launch approval will also likely be delayed because of the lawsuit against that agency for issuing the previous launch license.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Next year maybe. The government will never let this happen any time soon. This is sad. I want to see this thing land on mars and take off and return to earth in my lifetime. I have given up hoping to see a man on mars. Maybe China?
The good thing about that area of Texas is that there are no endangered animals in the launch area that are not also in a far wider spread protected area. Half of that coast line is protected from hunting, fishing, new housing developments not counting all the protections from oil developments and production.
Texas itself also wants this space launch area. They want to compete directly with Florida.
And anyone with a home or property that is still in the area has figured out a few ways to start making their own cash from the launches.
No this is nothing more than a delaying action with no hope of actually winning and shutting down Space X. They hope that by delaying Space X that he will pull out and move to Florida.
But they do not understand exactly how much money Space X is saving in taxes alone by being in Texas.
By my guess Space X will have to lose a billion in the next few years for him to even start thinking about moving. And at the pace he is willing to spend a billion I even doubt that.
SpaceX will make it to mars the next time there is a Republican in the White House. Elon has made it pretty clear recently, that he is tired of the Democrats obstructing him in various ways and is betting on the other team.
I am assuming these still have Raptor 2 engines.
Last week I saw mentions of a 3rd gen Raptor, and I am curious what it entails.
Curious if the image is as appears: an interplanetary-class spacecraft rolling down a public road? Tax dollars not better spent.
Pretty slick photography
They hope that by delaying Space X that he will pull out and move to Florida.
And then be under NASA’s thumb, in perpetuity.
There must be a commissar over every worthwhile endeavor, to “make sure it is done properly”. /sarc
Hearing some nice things about white graphene:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=58883.0