SpaceX said in a statement Wednesday that the upgrades “will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight.” The changes include “a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration,” SpaceX said. SpaceX performed two test-firings of the Starship’s Raptor engines April 26 and 27, clearing the say for a launch attempt this week.Įlon Musk said the SN15 prototype introduces “hundreds of design improvements” in structures, engines, avionics, and software. Last month, SpaceX rolled out Starship SN15 to the oceanside launch pad from the Starship production complex a couple of miles inland from the Gulf Coast. 15, debuted new upgrades to the Starship design.
#Starship prototype serial#
The rocket that launched Wednesday, designated Starship Serial No. And the most recent Starship test flight ended with an explosion moments before landing March 30, an accident caused by a methane fuel leak in one of the rocket’s Raptor engines. The SN10 rocket achieved the first successful landing of a full-size Starship vehicle at the end of a March 3 test flight, but the rocket exploded minutes later after a harder-than-intended touchdown. 9 Starship test flight was caused by low pressure from header tanks feeding the vehicle’s Raptor engines for the critical burn just before touchdown, and one of the Raptor engines failed to reignite for the landing burn on a test flight Feb. 9, but all four rockets exploded during or shortly after landing.Ī hard landing on an otherwise-successful Dec. SpaceX has successfully launched four Starship prototypes on atmospheric test flights since Dec. Moments before the Starship reached the ground the Raptor engines reignited to flip the rocket vertical again and slowed it down for a gentle landing. After the final engine switches off, cold gas control thrusters and body flaps maneuvered the vehicle to a horizontal orientation for the descent back to the ground.
Three Raptor engines consuming methane and liquid oxygen propellants powered the rocket into the sky, before the engines shut down in a staggered sequence as the Starship neared the high point of its trajectory. Around six minutes after takeoff, the rocket landed vertically back at the same test site at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville. The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) stainless steel rocket flew to an altitude of about 33,000 feet (10 kilometers) over SpaceX’s rocket development and test facility in Cameron County, Texas, after lifting off at 6:24 p.m.
SpaceX launched and landed an upgraded prototype for the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle in South Texas on Wednesday, the company’s first Starship test flight since winning a $2.9 billion NASA contract to use the craft to land astronauts on the Moon.Įlon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO tweeted: “Starship landing nominal!”