SpaceX inches closer to orbital launch attempt, tests its Super Heavy rocket for longest duration – Technology News, Firstpost

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SpaceX moved within an inch of the attempted orbital launch of its Super Heavy first stage and Starship upper stage rockets. The Elon-Musk-owned space organization has tested firing its superheavy rocket for about 12 seconds, making it the longest the superheavy rocket has ever been launched. The test involved firing at least 11 of the 33 Raptor rocket engines that made up the booster.

SpaceX is inches closer to an orbital launch attempt, and it has been testing its Super Heavy rocket for the longest time

The Elon-Musk-owned space organization’s test fired its superheavy rocket for about 12 seconds, making it the longest the superheavy rocket has ever been launched. SpaceX hopes to attempt an orbital launch in December, or early 2023. Image credit: SpaceX

Earlier this month, SpaceX fired 14 Raptor engines at this booster for a few seconds, a record for the most rockets launched for this test. Although this week’s attempt didn’t set any new records, it was huge for its duration, proving that booster rockets can handle the payload for a sufficient amount of time. The latest launch is the longest period of time that multiple Raptor engines have been fired at once.

The next step for Musk and his team is to fire a smaller batch of rockets from the Super Heavy engines for about 20 seconds.

In all likelihood, SpaceX still has two primary tests to complete before launching the joint Super Heavy rocket and Starship upper stage from the company’s Starbus facility in south Texas. SpaceX is expected to run at least a short-duration test run of all 33 Raptor engines simultaneously to gain confidence in the complex whole of fuel plumbing and pressurization of the rocket’s propulsion system. Then the Starship’s upper stage will be stacked on top of the Super Heavy, and the combined vehicles must complete a rehearsal.

After completing all the technical preparations, SpaceX must also obtain a launch authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is in the process but not yet completed. While it is still theoretically possible for Starship to attempt an orbital launch in December, there is a growing possibility that the test flight will slip into the early part of 2023.

What should be a pleasant surprise for SpaceX is that during the high-risk testing, none of the Raptor rockets malfunctioned, nor were there any major failures. Given SpaceX’s history with Falcon rockets and any risky experiment with rockets, this is a huge success for the SpaceX team.



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