E-Yaan
SpaceX’s Starhopper Takes Its First Free-Flying Test Hop
BY AFIYA QURESHI18 HOURS, 24 MINUTES
SpaceX’s future of space tourism, Starship took a big leap on Thursday. The American aerospace company launched a test version of its next big rocket, Starhopper from Texas, United States, as the vehicle hovered in the air for a few seconds before touching down to the ground again.
SEE ALSO: SpaceX To Launch Its First Commercial Starship Mission In 2021
SpaceX put together the three-legged hardware that resembles a water tank in a high strength stainless steel. Powered by SpaceX’s next generation rocket engine, the Raptor mounted on its base, the Starship prototype vehicle blew momentarily above SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas, moved by its side and then landed upright. The whole test took just about 15 seconds, which is why such kinds of launches are called ‘hops.’
The most ambitious vehicle concept of SpaceX, ever, Starship is a fully reusable design aimed to send cargo and people to deep space tours like the Moon and Mars. It is supposed to land upright on Earth or distant worlds, and then be capable to launch itself again, on the lines of Falcon 9 rockets. The aerospace company plans to fly the same vehicle on more hop tests in the following months, taking things further.
Elon Musk expressed his excitement in his recent cheeky tweet announcing the successful first hop. The SpaceX CEO also shared a couple of smoky launch videos:
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✔@elonmusk
Starhopper flight successful. Water towers *can* fly haha!!
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✔@elonmusk
Starhopper flight successful. Water towers *can* fly haha!!
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✔@elonmusk
Engine cam
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7,182 people are talking about this
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✔@elonmusk
Engine cam
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✔@elonmusk
Drone cam
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4,414 people are talking about this
Although, this was this the first time the test vehicle flew detached from the ground, Starship still has a long way to go before it even gets to space. Musk has promised to share the basic design of the newly developed main engine, the Raptor, which the Thursday’s hop was all about.
SpaceX attempted to do the flight on Wednesday, July 24 but had to call it off right after igniting the engine as it suffered a small failure due to a fuel leak. The rocket, luckily, only sustained minimal damage after the hardware was on fire.
Musk also recently claimed that the Starship Super Heavy system would be able to perform an unchartered landing on the Moon within the next 2 years. But given Musk’s record, we can expect him to give out some unrealistic estimates for the big project.
SEE ALSO: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Tweet About Area 51 Raid Is Making Everyone LOL
TOPICS: SCIENCE, ELON MUSK, TEXAS, GENESIS BY MASHABLE INDIA, TRENDING, STARHOPPER, TEST HOP, UNTETHERED FLIGHT, THE RAPTOR, BOCA CHICA, STARSHIP SUPER HEAVY SYSTEM
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