On October 22, local time, the staff of SpaceX‘s base in southern Texas have assembled the latest interplanetary spacecraft prototype SN8. Next, the company will conduct flight tests to allow the spacecraft prototype to rise to 9 miles (about 15 km) height. If the test flight goes smoothly, the flight altitude of SN8 will be much greater than all previous interplanetary spacecraft prototypes .
Picture: On October 22, SpaceX staff lifted the nose cone to the top of SN8
On October 22, the staff of SpaceX’s Boca Chica base near the coast completed the installation of the nose cone of the prototype SN8. The SN8 is now in a flyable state, ready to jump to an altitude of about 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the ground without a pilot.
The SN8 has taken a big step towards this test flight. In the “static ignition” test earlier this week, the staff started the three Raptor engines on the SN8. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said last month that the prototype of the SN8 spacecraft may undergo another static ignition test before it takes off.
The interplanetary spacecraft is a new generation of large-scale space vehicles being built by SpaceX. The purpose is to transport people and payloads to remote destinations such as the moon and Mars. It will also be used to launch satellites into orbit and execute all other space vehicles of the company. Flight mission.
The 165-foot (50-meter) spacecraft will be launched from the ground with a giant rocket. The rocket called “Super Heavy” currently has no flyable prototype. Musk said that in the entire space system, both the interstellar spacecraft and the super heavy rocket will be fully reusable; the super heavy rocket will return to the earth in the form of a vertical landing, and the interstellar spacecraft can travel to the moon, Mars or other purposes multiple times. Ground. What needs to be clear is that the interstellar spacecraft has enough thrust to launch from the moon and Mars, but it needs the help of super heavy rockets to leave the earth.
SpaceX is moving towards the final interstellar spacecraft design by developing a series of spacecraft prototypes, three of which have undergone short-range “jump” tests. For example, the interplanetary spacecraft prototypes SN5 and SN6 rose to 500 feet (150 meters) above the ground during test flights in August and September of this year, respectively.
Both the starship prototypes SN5 and SN6 have only one Raptor engine and no nose cone. The SN8 is a completely different design so that it can fly higher; in addition to the nose cone and three Raptor engines, the hull is also equipped with fuselage flaps to increase flight stability. Musk said that the final interplanetary spacecraft will be powered by 6 Raptor engines, and the super heavy rocket will be equipped with about 30 Raptor engines.
SpaceX’s goal is to build a mature interstellar spacecraft system and put it into use in a relatively short time. The interplanetary spacecraft system is also supporting NASA’s Artemis program, preparing to send astronauts to the moon again in 2024.
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