{"id":12507,"date":"2020-04-27T17:02:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T09:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starship-prototype-clears-cryogenic-pressure-test\/"},"modified":"2020-04-27T17:02:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T09:02:26","slug":"starship-prototype-clears-cryogenic-pressure-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starship-prototype-clears-cryogenic-pressure-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Starship prototype clears cryogenic pressure test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a prototype for the company\u2019s planned Starship launch vehicle passed a cryogenic proof test Sunday night in South Texas, clearing the way for teams to install a Raptor engine this week for a test-firing.<\/p>\n<p>The Starship test vehicle, designated SN4, was loaded with super-cold liquid nitrogen Sunday night in a \u201cproof test\u201d that damaged or destroyed previous Starship prototypes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 1299px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1254632509863866368&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2020%2F04%2F27%2Fstarship-prototype-clears-cryogenic-pressure-test%2F&amp;sessionId=ba315e3ef28df8aab40179a36b39f6391d1e47e5&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1254632509863866368\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The cryogenic testing Sunday night occurred a day after SpaceX performed a pressure test of the Starship SN4 vehicle at ambient temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreat work by SpaceX engineering!\u201d Musk tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>Made of stainless steel, the Starship test model will next receive a methane-fueled Raptor engine in preparation for a test-firing \u201chopefully later this week,\u201d Musk tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>Cryogenic pressure testing on three earlier models of SpaceX\u2019s Starship resulted in explosive ruptures that left behind crumpled wreckage at the company\u2019s manufacturing and test site at Boca Chica, Texas. Musk said SpaceX engineers are technicians have introduced improved manufacturing and weld techniques on new Starship vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>He tweeted that SpaceX is also switching to a new stainless steel alloy with \u201chigh ductility\u201d at cryogenic temperatures, along with \u201cgeometric changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Starship is the upper stage of of SpaceX\u2019s next-generation reusable launch and space transportation system. Coupled with a massive booster named the Super Heavy, the Starship could haul more than 100 metric tons, or 220,000 pounds, of cargo to low Earth orbit, according to SpaceX.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarship has the capability to transport satellites, payloads, crew, and cargo to a variety of orbits and Earth, lunar, or Martian landing sites,\u201d SpaceX wrote in a Starship user\u2019s guide released last month.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Raptor engine can produce up to 440,000 pounds of thrust, and it\u2019s designed to adjust power levels to enable the Starship to land vertically, similar to the way SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket boosters return to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>If the static fire test goes according to plan, SpaceX is expected to attempt a 500-foot (150-meter) test flight of the Starship SN4 vehicle. Musk said the next Starship being built in South Texas, known as SN5, will get three Raptor engines to advance to the next stage of testing.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX conducted a 500-foot test flight of a reduced-scale Starship test vehicle \u2014 named the Starship Hopper \u2014 last August in South Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The fully reusable Super Heavy and Starship vehicles, which will also be able to carry people, will eventually replace the partially reusable Falcon rocket family, SpaceX says.<\/p>\n<p>In a presentation to a National Academies\u2019 science panel Monday, Musk said the Starship will be flying \u201cquite soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think you\u2019ll see regular flights within a couple of years, and that\u2019s a very big rocket,\u201d Musk said Monday.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a prototype for the company\u2019s planned Starship launch vehicle passed a cryogenic proof test Sunday night in South Texas, clearing the way for teams to install a Raptor engine this week for a test-firing. The Starship test vehicle, designated SN4, was loaded with super-cold liquid nitrogen Sunday night in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1648,291,1045,25,317,2210,1898],"class_list":["post-12507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boca-chica","tag-commercial-space","tag-elon-musk","tag-launch","tag-starship","tag-starship-sn4","tag-texas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}