SpaceX's "Martian" prototype successfully completes high-altitude tests for the first time

6 May 2021 41

After a series of unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX still managed to conduct high-altitude tests of the prototype of the future "Martian" spacecraft Starship. The fifth "jump" of the vehicle ended with a successful landing on the launch pad.

During the test flight, the SN15 prototype climbed to an altitude of about 10 km, made the planned maneuver and performed a smooth landing on the launch pad. Later, the head of SpaceX Elon Musk tweeted: "Nominal landing of the Starship", indicating that the current tests have passed without incident.

Recall that versions of the promising ship SN8, SN9, SN10 and SN11 were destroyed during previous test flights. The first two vehicles crashed on impact on the ground during landing, SN10 exploded a few minutes after a successful landing, and SN11 went out of order right in flight, at the time of the maneuver.

It is worth noting that after the successful landing of SN15, a low-intensity fire broke out at the base of the device, which went out after a few minutes. In general, the tests were successful, which means that the company's engineers made conclusions and were able to eliminate the problems that led to the explosions of the previous prototypes.

The company's website indicates that the current version of the Starship is different from its predecessors. In particular, the SN15 rocket received an improved design, as well as updated avionics and software. In addition, the engineers redesigned the fuel line and equipped the prototype with Raptor engines with a new design and configuration.

In the near future, the company will continue to develop and test its "Martian" spacecraft. According to the ambitious statements of Elon Musk, the Starship & SuperHeavy transport system may be ready by 2023.

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Cyril

0

6 May 2021 14: 37

It's a pity that the camera was stuck in flight, but the landing itself was epic. Another important step towards Starship. SpaceX is great.
Sergey Latyshev

-1

6 May 2021 16: 55

Yusa trampolines are getting better and better.
15 trampolines in 2 years, and assembled right on the spot (like), non-standard shape - this is a straight conveyor.

How will ours answer? the articles on the site are not encouraging ...
shadow

-2

6 May 2021 23: 42

We landed on a string. And instead of fuel, a flashlight was attached, so it didn't explode. Well, reaching for the bucket of nails.
1. Cyril
  
  +2
  
  7 May 2021 02: 40
  
  Well, reaching for the bucket of nails.
  
  You exactly described your head :)
  1. isofat
    
    0
    
    7 May 2021 20: 41
    
    Quote: Cyril
    You exactly described your head
    
    This is a characteristic of a prototype, not someone's head. You took offense for Mask and sank to insults.
    
    Musk's company built a prototype to see what happens during landing. And if it works out, plant it. The prototype for testing is not a full-fledged spacecraft.
    
    In other words, the prototype could well be called a bucket of nails. And the next tests cannot be called completely successful, they could not do without fire.
    1. Cyril
      
      0
      
      7 May 2021 20: 50
      
      This is a characteristic of a prototype, not someone's head. You took offense for Mask and sank to insults.
      
      Buckets of nails don't fly.
      
      Musk's company built a prototype to see what happens during landing. And if it works out, plant it. The prototype for testing is not a full-fledged spacecraft.
      
      Nobody argues with this.
      
      In other words, the prototype could well be called a bucket of nails.
      
      If your buckets of nails are equipped with rocket engines, electronic flight control systems, are able to climb 10 km up, make complex maneuvers and sit down smoothly - then you can call it that.
      1. isofat
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 20: 59
        
        Cyril... Don't like it with nails? Let there be a bucket without nails. They threw it several times ... and only for the fifth time, it fell and fell to the bottom. Very difficult maneuvers.
        
        Cyril
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 21: 02
        
        Let there be a bucket without nails.
        
        Well, if you have buckets without nails flying in your pink universe - ok, let it be.
        
        Very difficult maneuvers.
        
        For an object of this size and purpose, it is really very difficult, yes.
    2. Cyril
      
      0
      
      7 May 2021 20: 54
      
      You took offense for Mask and sank to insults.
      
      What are the insults? Comparing his head and a bucket of nails? Oh, this is another compliment, so there should be a comparison to others. The bucket of nails is filled with something, unlike his head.
      1. isofat
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 22: 53
        
        Cyril... A bucket of nails can be very offended that it is compared to American scrap metal.
        
        Cyril
        
        -2
        
        7 May 2021 23: 26
        
        A bucket of nails can be very offended,
        
        Buckets of nails are not offended.
        
        that it is compared to American scrap metal
        
        so don't compare with scrap metal
        
        isofat
        
        -1
        
        7 May 2021 23: 42
        
        Cyril... And when will scrap metal please us next time? When will he be again to portray spaceship, do you know the schedule?
        
        Cyril
        
        0
        
        8 May 2021 01: 33
        
        And when will scrap metal please us next time?
        
        When you will be pleased with some kind of scrap metal (a strange joy, of course, you have) - I don't know. You can go to an industrial dump at any time and enjoy the scrap metal, no one forbids you.
        
        When he plays a spaceship again, do you know the timetable?
        
        There is no exact flight of the Starship prototypes. They fly as soon as they are ready.
  2. shadow
    
    0
    
    7 May 2021 23: 32
    
    Well, whoever hurts what, he talks about it.
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isofat

-2

7 May 2021 00: 37

American Roulette.
Dear sofa expert.

+1

7 May 2021 01: 21

And there on the video. on the left ... is this Tsiolkovsky's apparatus standing?)
Dear sofa expert.

+3

7 May 2021 01: 49

I watched the video several times. Remained some kind of, a little muddy impression of everything seen. Some strange proportions .. in total .. Then this flight ... Especially landing under some kind of .. well, I don’t know what to call it .. radial angle (positive radial rake), perhaps .. well, not vertically, as it all happened ..
In short, Stanislavsky probably wouldn't have believed it.)
1. Cyril
  
  -2
  
  7 May 2021 02: 40
  
  And how does Stanislavsky feel about the development of space technology?
2. Cyril
  
  -1
  
  7 May 2021 02: 44
  Especially landing at some sort of .. well, I don’t know what to call it .. a radial angle (positive radial rake), or something .. well, not vertically, as it all happened ..
  
  Everything is vertical there.
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  2. Dear sofa expert.
    
    +2
    
    7 May 2021 10: 33
    
    Everything is vertical there.
    
    Do this "trick" with the red square, when the rocket is 3-4 more hulls higher, then it will be visible.
    1. Cyril
      
      0
      
      7 May 2021 13: 32
      
      when the rocket is 3-4 more hulls higher
      
      And when is it still in a controlled fall is not to be done?
      
      The height of the prototype is 50 m. At 50 m above the ground, it has already taken a strictly vertical position.
      1. Dear sofa expert.
        
        +3
        
        7 May 2021 14: 46
        
        And when is it still in a controlled fall is not to be done?
        
        The height of the prototype is 50 m. At 50 m above the ground, it has already taken a strictly vertical position.
        
        Was the rocket still in free fall above 50 m above the ground (150-200 m)?)
        
        Cyril
        
        -2
        
        7 May 2021 16: 13
        
        At this height, she came out of a horizontal position. Or, in your pink universe, the body immediately goes from horizontal to vertical, bypassing the intermediate ones?
        
        Dear sofa expert.
        
        +3
        
        7 May 2021 16: 49
        
        At this height, she came out of a horizontal position.
        
        And before that, was it in free fall in a horizontal position?)
        And then from behind, the main engines turned on, pushed the rocket sideways (!), And thus turned the rocket into the vertical position required for landing?
        Something does not really "fit" this maneuver in my head. Nonsense..)
        Was it not more logical to release the "stabilizer" to the vertical position, in the bow? But he is just not visible.
        
        Cyril
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 18: 03
        
        And before that, was it in free fall in a horizontal position?)
        
        Exactly. In free fall controlled by stabilizers.
        
        And then from behind, the main engines turned on, pushed the rocket sideways (!), And thus turned the rocket into the vertical position required for landing?
        
        Exactly. The engines have a deflected thrust vector - with the help of this, as well as with the help of the stabilizers, the prototype is brought from a horizontal position to a vertical one.
        
        Something does not really "fit" this maneuver in my head. Nonsense..)
        
        Everything in your head can "mismatch". That's why you are a sofa expert - that is, an amateur.
        
        Was it not more logical to release the "stabilizer" to the vertical position, in the bow? But he is just not visible.
        
        More illogical. You will not deploy a 50-meter colossus like that
        
        You can watch how the Starship prototypes move from horizontal to vertical in the videos of past launches. There you can clearly see all the stages of flight and landing, how the engines and stabilizers work.
        
        Cyril
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 18: 19
        
        https://habr.com/ru/post/554796/ - вот здесь подробно расписано, почему и как именно выполняется маневр разворота.
        
        The Starship Landing Maneuver is a new and unique rocket landing style. Starship begins to fall from the sky belly down in order to slow down as much as possible physically during free fall. At an altitude of about 500 m, it turns on two Raptor engines, deflects them completely, folds the rear (lower) flaps and flips from horizontal to vertical to land with the tail section on its landing legs.
        
        When the rear (lower) flaps are folded in, the bow experiences significantly more resistance than the aft. This, combined with the Raptor's engines running, causes the tail section to rotate under the nose, flipping the rocket into an upright position. Sometime in the future, SpaceX may add hot gas boosters to aid rotation.
        
        isofat
        
        0
        
        7 May 2021 18: 46
        
        Cyril, and how the Americans were able not only to land their ship, but even take off from the moon? This is 1969.
        
        I would like to note that now it is 2021, and to assert that the landing of spaceships has been mastered, even on a site prepared for this, prematurely.
        
        Cyril
        
        -2
        
        7 May 2021 18: 54
        
        Cyril, how did the Americans manage not only to land their ship, but even take off from the moon? This is 1969.
        
        The lunar landing in 1969-72 was carried out according to a completely different scheme in different conditions.
        
        And taking off from the Moon does not present any difficulty at all, given the absence of an atmosphere and 6 times less gravity compared to the Earth.
        
        shadow
        
        +2
        
        7 May 2021 23: 55
        
        Yes, no one flew anywhere, keep your fairy tales and Wishlist with you.
        
        Cyril
        
        0
        
        8 May 2021 01: 28
        
        yes yes yes, calm down already, other patients will soon begin to be afraid of you.
        
        shadow
        
        +1
        
        8 May 2021 01: 41
        
        I see you're already afraid)))
        
        Cyril
        
        -1
        
        8 May 2021 11: 38
        
        inadequate like you - well, yes, I'm afraid. You are uncontrollable.
        
        shadow
        
        +1
        
        8 May 2021 13: 23
        
        But you are with us controlled by your masters from NASA, which sends you manuals. And it also pours any nasty stuff into your brain. Here you have everything and inadequate. And you are adequate, who only refers to jaundice. This is your level of adequacy - jaundice.
        
        Cyril
        
        -1
        
        7 May 2021 20: 52
        
        I will note that now it is 2021 and it is premature to say that the landing of spaceships has been mastered, even on a site prepared for this.
        
        I would like to note that the landing of spaceships was mastered during the time of the Shuttles and Buran, and today it is performed by Dragon and, in general, Starliner too.
        
        shadow
        
        +2
        
        8 May 2021 00: 01
        
        No one has ever flown to this moon. The Americans themselves have been talking about this for a long time, and not just some of them, but scientific advisers. And this close grief expert with, as he said long ago, analytical thinking like an academician, believes in all sorts of fairy tales.
        Even Minuteman 3 cannot start. And you mean some flights to the moon.
        
        Cyril
        
        -1
        
        8 May 2021 11: 36
        
        and not some there, but scientific advisers.
        
        Yeah, who have never been scientific advisors :)
        
        shadow
        
        +1
        
        8 May 2021 13: 24
        
        There were, therefore, the State Department did not officially deny it. And your wishlist is not interesting to anyone
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Igor Berg

0

8 May 2021 08: 53

I see that all minus really do not like the rapid, albeit relatively, successes in astronautics in other countries.
1. shadow
  
  +1
  
  8 May 2021 14: 39
  
  You tell this to those who throw mud at Roskosmos.
2. zenion
  
  0
  
  29 May 2021 20: 09
  
  There is a beautiful Ukrainian proverb - how to quickly work out, then to be born sleepy.
zenion

0

29 May 2021 20: 07

While he is here suffering from imperfections, and his car on Mars is already a million kilometers. wound up.