Starship prototype being prepped for first hop
Capitalism in space: SpaceX engineers, having successfully completed its tank pressure tests of its fifth Starship prototype, are now preparing the ship for its first static fire engine test, to be followed very quickly thereafter by its first hop to 150 meters.
SN5 [the fifth prototype] is being prepped for a flight test right out of the gate. SpaceX does not plan to perform an extended ground test campaign with SN5 after beginning Raptor engine testing.
It is understood that one good static fire test could be enough to clear the way for a 150-meter hop test. Furthermore, only a few days may be required to prepare SN5 for the flight test following a successful static fire test. If a static fire occurs this weekend, this will put the earliest possible hop date in the first half of next week.
As always, this schedule could change during testing.
The article also describes the status of both the sixth prototype, as well as the eighth being assembled now, noting that “if the 150-meter flight of Starship SN5 is successful, SpaceX is expected to quickly move on to Starship SN8 for an upcoming higher altitude flight test – potentially skipping a flight test with the SN6 prototype.”
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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.
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.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX engineers, having successfully completed its tank pressure tests of its fifth Starship prototype, are now preparing the ship for its first static fire engine test, to be followed very quickly thereafter by its first hop to 150 meters.
SN5 [the fifth prototype] is being prepped for a flight test right out of the gate. SpaceX does not plan to perform an extended ground test campaign with SN5 after beginning Raptor engine testing.
It is understood that one good static fire test could be enough to clear the way for a 150-meter hop test. Furthermore, only a few days may be required to prepare SN5 for the flight test following a successful static fire test. If a static fire occurs this weekend, this will put the earliest possible hop date in the first half of next week.
As always, this schedule could change during testing.
The article also describes the status of both the sixth prototype, as well as the eighth being assembled now, noting that “if the 150-meter flight of Starship SN5 is successful, SpaceX is expected to quickly move on to Starship SN8 for an upcoming higher altitude flight test – potentially skipping a flight test with the SN6 prototype.”
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.
That is not a ship! That is a can on a pad.
This is a ship! Look how this agile little thing beautifully cuts the water so that not even Neptune notices it:
https://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/aircraft_carriers/hms_centaur_r06.htm
And THIS is a ship! Like an iron on Neptune’s shirt. If you don’t wanna go to bed with this darling, then only a pair of 15 inch guns can put you to sleep:
https://i.redd.it/npskjkr69kb31.jpg
LocalFluff, why’d you have to include the warrior hotel picture?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygXLnRAm-A
@commodude, Drachinifel is great, but he is a Britt. He doesn’t understand French design. And calling it a warrior hotel is, well, you had to share bunks with bunker basement Biden’s old pal Corn Pop in there, so I wouldn’t recommend it for a honeymoon.
Ships’ development 100+ years ago reminds of today’s space race. Most ships were antiquated as soon as they were launched. Now SpaceX does that to ladies like Ariane 6, Vulcan, Angara. And their stainless steel Dreadnought Starship will put everyone behind forever.
Different strategic needs, no one had figured out fire direction well yet, however, they did have some…unconventional designs, even for predreadnoughts, which were a dog’s breakfast as far as design anyway.
Well, the brute Britts had their Queen Anne’s mansion of steel on their pre-dreadnoughts. The brave captains however refused to get into and hide in that ugly conning tower, but rather led from the deck. (Not that there were any wars for them at the time). So they soon skipped that overload.
They don’t make men in Europe as they did just a couple of generations ago. (Perhaps because the gene pool got cleaned from them during the great wars…)
The French predreadnoughts ARE a good comparison for starship, as it was the same concept, build, test, and move on, all of them were working prototypes.