Sina Technology News Beijing time on the evening of January 9th, according to reports, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Elon Musk) said today that SpaceX’s Starship (Starship) is very likely to make its first orbital flight in March this year.
Starship is SpaceX’s new generation of launch vehicles. Its goal is to replace the current main rocket “Falcon 9” to perform cargo missions, and will eventually carry astronauts to the moon and Mars. The starship can carry more than 100 passengers and will be the largest spaceship ever built by mankind.
Since 2019, SpaceX has been developing starships at its base in southern Texas and has tested and flown several starship prototypes at altitudes below 20 kilometers. According to the plan, the starship will make its first orbital launch in 2022, but it has not been launched until today.
Now, it seems that the first orbital launch of the starship is really not far away. On Sunday local time, Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, said on Twitter: “There is a real launch opportunity in late February this year, and the possibility of launching in March is extremely high.”
In this upcoming orbital flight test, SpaceX aims to launch the Starship prototype SN24 and the super-heavy booster prototype B7.
The B7 first left SpaceX’s Starship factory in March 2022, before spending the next nine months undergoing constant testing, repairs and upgrades. During the test, the 69-meter-high giant rocket suffered two serious damages.
In contrast, the starship prototype SN24 seems to be less bumpy. After the first test in May 2022, the SN24 will require no significant repairs. Since August 2022, SN24 has completed three static fire tests, all appearing to be successful. During one of the tests, all six Raptor engines of SN24 fired in readiness for the first orbital launch.
Editor in charge: Liu Mingliang
media reports
IT House Sina Technology 36Kr
Event Tracking
- 2023-01-09 Musk: SpaceX “Starship” is likely to make its first orbital flight in March
- 2022-12-19 SpaceX is preparing for Starship launch
- 2022-09-03 Musk: SpaceX plans to conduct 100 launch missions in 2023
- 2022-06-13 SpaceX raised $1.68 billion through equity financing, Starship passed FAA environmental assessment
- 2022-05-31 The first flight of the SpaceX interstellar spacecraft is in doubt, and the US aviation agency postpones the environmental assessment decision again
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