Starship SN8 is to become the next prototype vehicle to undergo a test flight. CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk confirmed a readiness schedule for the vehicle that will fly with three Raptors, a nose cone, and aero surfaces.<\/p>\n
The update is an advance on SpaceX\u2019s previous test schedule that was set to conduct multiple hops with SN5 and SN6. Following two successful 150 meter hops, SN8 will be launched to 60,000 feet (18.2 KM) as early as October.<\/p>\n
Hop-Proven:<\/p>\n
Starship SN5 and SN6 were set to become a tag-team, flying 150-meter hops to refine the launch and landing techniques that SpaceX has pioneered with its Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n
However, with SN5\u2019s hop proving to be a success, followed by a notable improvement with SN6\u2019s leap to 150 meters a few weeks later, it\u2019s likely SpaceX is now confident of advancing to the next milestone.<\/p>\n
The fate of SN5 and SN6 is currently unknown. The two vehicles are located outside the Mid Bay, with SN5 having already undergone work in preparation for a second hop. However, most of this work was conducted ahead of SN6\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
Notably, both vehicles stand testament to SpaceX\u2019s perseverance to test, fail, fix, fly \u2013 shaking off the \u201cpops\u201d of previous prototypes and finding the sweet spot with the manufacturing and testing.<\/p>\n
SN7.1:<\/p>\n
Improvements to the construction of the vehicles will be tested again during the \u201cburst test\u201d of the SN7.1 Test Tank, which \u2013 like its SN7 predecessor \u2013 will be purposely pushed to destruction.<\/p>\n
Astronomy (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Following rollout on the same day, SN6 was returned to the production site, SN7.1 was first put through a cryotest to check the tank\u2019s integrity. With that test in the bag, the Test Tank was lifted onto the launch mount.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n