US business awaits Starship – will it deliver?

At the beginning of February, the next version of V3 passed the pressure test. Once transferred to the launch pad, SpaceX planned to fire up the 10 engines to full power. But as soon as it was turned on, due to the removal of the current from the ground machine, a strict shutdown was ordered. This ended up costing half of the Raptors.

Then, in mid-April, the company moved this booster with all 33 engines to the launch site for another fire test. Meanwhile, the lower side sensor reported a problem with the pressure of the manifolds, which distribute the propellant to the vehicle. This may be a false reading, but it finished the test early, just 1.88 seconds after powering on.

The company finally ended well, regular static fire test at the beginning of May.

“This is a dangerous ride,” said Jenna Lowe, general manager of Starship operations, in the new video. “Legs are high. Low are low.”

A new rocket

In many ways, this is a new rocket. It incorporates hundreds of lessons learned from the V1 and V2 car and aims to improve performance, reliability, and durability. This is the vehicle that should hopefully allow SpaceX to begin putting the large Starlink satellites into orbit and demonstrate the refueling in space that is critical to NASA’s Artemis Moon mission.

For the motivational part, the changes start from the bottom and continue to the top.

SpaceX says that on this third engine of the Raptor rocket engine, it has reduced its weight to 1,525 kg from 1,630 kg and that the total cost of transportation is about one ton per engine by simplifying the engine, vehicle load, and support equipment. The entire fuel delivery system has been redesigned. This should be very reliable and will allow simultaneous launch of all Raptors.