{"id":12981,"date":"2019-08-26T20:31:28","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T12:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-aborts-starhopper-test-flight-could-try-again-tuesday\/"},"modified":"2019-08-26T20:31:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T12:31:28","slug":"spacex-aborts-starhopper-test-flight-could-try-again-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-aborts-starhopper-test-flight-could-try-again-tuesday\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX aborts Starhopper test flight, could try again Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX aborted an attempted flight Monday of the company\u2019s Starhopper test rocket, a prototype for the company\u2019s next-generation Starship vehicle. The hop test was to fly to a height of around 500 feet (150 meters) over SpaceX\u2019s launch site at Boca Chica, Texas.<\/p>\n

SpaceX said teams could mount another attempt for the Starhopper test flight Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A live video feed provided by SpaceX showed the squat, 30-foot-wide (9-meter) Starhopper vehicle counting down to a planned liftoff shortly after 6 p.m. CDT (7 p.m. EDT; 2300 GMT) Monday from the company\u2019s facility in South Texas. The vehicle\u2019s single methane-fueled Raptor engine could be seen swiveling side-to-side in a preflight steering check, as the Starhopper pad\u2019s sound suppression system dumped water under the vehicle.<\/p>\n

But the Raptor engine did not ignite as the countdown clock reached zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cTest aborted just after T-0,\u201d read a text banner on SpaceX\u2019s webcast. \u201cTeams evaluating next test opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX later announced the Starhopper team was standing down for the day. Another \u201chop\u201d attempt could occur Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIgniters need to be inspected,\u201d tweeted Elon Musk, SpaceX\u2019s founder and CEO. \u201cWe will try again tomorrow same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk later tweeted that the problem that caused Monday\u2019s abort appears to involve a wiring or connector issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaptor uses dual redundant torch igniters,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cBetter long-term, but more finicky in development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming 500-foot hop test will be the second untethered test flight by SpaceX\u2019s Starhopper vehicle after a July 25 hop that took the rocket to an altitude of about 65 feet (20 meters).<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s next-generation Raptor engine will power the Starhopper off the ground to an altitude of about 500 feet, then steer it toward a landing site adjacent to the vehicle\u2019s takeoff location. The throttleable engine is the biggest powerplant ever built by SpaceX, with more than twice the thrust of the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s Merlin engine.<\/p>\n

The Raptor uses a technically complex full-flow staged combustion design intended to maximize performance and make the engine relatively easy to reuse.<\/p>\n

Early versions the Raptor engine can produce up to 440,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, consuming super-cold methane and liquid oxygen propellants chilled to near their freezing points, a measure intended to increase efficiency, thrust and propellant density, allowing more fuel to be loaded into the launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

SpaceX engineers working on competing teams at Boca Chica and in Cocoa, Florida, are building higher-fidelity versions of the Starship vehicle \u2014 designated Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 \u2014 for higher-altitude, higher-speed test flights.<\/p>\n

Future Starship test flights from Florida will take off from launch pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, a former Apollo and space shuttle launch pad now leased by SpaceX.<\/p>\n

SpaceX is designing the Starship to fly in orbit, and eventually reach the moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations. The Starship is designed to land vertically on planetary surfaces using retro-propulsion, and then take off again, ferrying people and cargo between Earth and other locations in the solar system.<\/p>\n

The final Starship design, at least as currently understood, will use six Raptor engines for deep space missions. The new Starship prototypes under construction in Texas and Florida will each fly with at least three Raptors for suborbital jaunts.<\/p>\n

SpaceX officials have said the company aims for the first orbital flight of the Starship vehicle in 2020.<\/p>\n

For more ambitious voyages deeper into space, or carrying heavier cargo, the Starship will be coupled with a new booster design SpaceX calls the Super Heavy, with 35 Raptor engines clustered at its base.<\/p>\n

SpaceX planned to conduct a 200-meter (660-foot) hop of the Starhopper vehicle earlier this month, but Musk said difficulties obtaining an experimental permit from the Federal Aviation Administration delayed the test flight. The FAA is responsible for ensuring the protection of the public, property, and U.S. national security and foreign policy interests during commercial launch or re-entry activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeed a bit more hazard analysis & should be clear to fly soon,\u201d Musk tweeted Aug. 15.<\/p>\n

The FAA issued the permit for the Starhopper\u2019s 500-foot test flight Friday.<\/p>\n

Musk says a presentation on the status of SpaceX\u2019s Starship and Super Heavy projects, previously planned for Aug. 24, has been put on hold until the Starship Mk. 1 vehicle in South Texas has its three Raptor engines installed, along with moving body fins and a landing gear.<\/p>\n

He said that milestone will \u201chopefully\u201d be complete by mid-September.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Credit: SpaceX SpaceX aborted an attempted flight Monday of the company\u2019s Starhopper test rocket, a prototype for the company\u2019s next-generation Starship vehicle. The hop test was to fly to a height of around 500 feet (150 meters) over SpaceX\u2019s launch site at Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX said teams could mount another attempt for the Starhopper […]<\/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":[1648,291,1045,25,316,2541,317,596],"class_list":["post-12981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boca-chica","tag-commercial-space","tag-elon-musk","tag-launch","tag-spacex","tag-starhopper","tag-starship","tag-super-heavy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12981"}],"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=12981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}