SpaceX tested the new Starship SN20, the first of the company’s shiny, silver-colored Starship prototypes designed for launch into orbit, at the Starbase facility near Boca Chica, South Texas, on Friday, November 12. The test, which takes just a few seconds to see how the engines perform together, is also the company’s first to use six Raptor engines simultaneously. It is known that previous tests of the SN20 included only two engines.
If it is a new photo from SpaceX; It showcases the glorious moment of firing of the Starship SN20 rocket. In the photo, Starship’s six Raptor engines spew fire and exhaust on a test stand; Another rocket, the prototype of SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster, is idle nearby.
Starship also holds the title of longest rocket ever built.
SpaceX, which developed the massive Super Heavy booster with the Starship rocket to launch humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars; also designed the launch system to be completely reusable. The first stage of the system includes the Super Heavy booster, while the next stage includes the 165 feet (50 meters) Starship. When these two vehicles come together, with a length of 120 meters, it surpasses NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket at 110 meters to form the highest rocket ever.
Starship, which SpaceX wants to use first for its own crewed Moon flights and then for the Mars journey; it was selected for use by NASA as part of the Artemis program some time ago (and Jeff Bezos was quite upset by this event). However, for SN20 to activate, Starship must first reach orbit.
Previous Starship tests have reached a maximum altitude of 6 miles (10 kilometers), sometimes with explosive results, before returning to Earth for a landing this year. Because it’s designed to reach orbit, the rocket has to go much higher than the 100km upper limit of space.
It is unclear when the test flight will take place.
In May, SpaceX presented its plan for the first Starship orbital flight, stating that the Starship would fly around Earth once and then return to Earth over the Pacific Ocean near the island of Kauai in Hawaii about 90 minutes after takeoff.
SpaceX and Elon Musk stated that the orbital test flight could take place in the coming weeks or months; however, the exact timing of the test flight remains unclear, as the Federal Aviation Administration is currently conducting an environmental assessment of the company’s Starbase facility.
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