Watch: SpaceX test fire of Raptor Vacuum engine; Musk says Starship flight could come in November
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SpaceX lit up the Texas coast again by firing an engine not designed for use on the ground.
The company installed and performed a test burn one of its Raptor Vacuum engines for the first time attached to a Starship prototype.
The company posted video of the test fire to its social media accounts with the short burn on the SN20 (as in serial number 20) test Starship at its Boca Chica, Texas facility Starbase.
SpaceX is awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for it to perform orbital test flights of Starship, but in the meantime is testing out the wares needed for those flights.
Company founder Elon Musk posted to Twitter that he is hopeful that launch will come as early as November.
“If all goes well, Starship will be ready for its first orbital launch attempt next month, pending regulatory approval,” Musk wrote.
The Raptor Vacuum engine is designed for when Starship is used in space. The engines feature a larger nozzle that allow for more efficiency in the vacuum of space.
The Starship design is meant to be used for both suborbital point-to-point flights on Earth and for deep-space missions such as to the moon and Mars. The full version will feature six Raptor engines, stand about 165 feet tall and have a 100-passenger capacity.
NASA has awarded SpaceX the Human Landing System contract for the Artemis III mission as well, which aims to use a version of Starship to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
The large version of Starship would be coupled with a Super Heavy booster with 37 Raptor engines.
Earlier test flights of Starship reached altitudes of about 6 miles, with some test prototypes making fiery landings.
The tests follow a similar method it used when developing its Falcon rockets. Starship is the company’s eventual replacement for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
