Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, said on Monday that the company's Starship prototype SN15 (Serial No.15) could be launched this week.
Musk confirmed in a tweet that the rocket's three-engine static fire test had gone well and that the SpaceX team was "preparing for flight later this week."
From December 2020 and April 2021, the firm performed four previous Starship concept "high-altitude" flight experiments, from SN8 and SN11, both of which failed to stick the landing and ended in fiery explosions.
In this SpaceX handout image, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft launches on the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station
What Makes SN15 Special From Other Spacecrafts?
While most details are yet to be disclosed, NASASpaceflight.com said SN15 is the first vehicle to feature upgrades ranging from the Thrust Puck to avionics.
The billionaire has identified "hundreds of architecture changes across systems, avionics/software, and engine," according to CNET.
Independent.co.uk also said SpaceX had mounted a Starlink receiver on its new Starship version, providing high-speed internet connectivity to the Mars-bound rocket.
As the next-generation craft perched on the launchpad of SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas, space enthusiast Carter Goode observed a Starlink dish two-thirds of the way up Starship SN15, ahead of a flight test this week.
SpaceX has asked for approval to run a "single user terminal... on an experimental basis at altitudes not to exceed 12.5 kilometers" for a limited time.
More than 1,300 Starlink satellites are currently in orbit around the Earth, with hopes to expand the constellation to 42,000 in the coming years.
Starlink's broadband network is now available in parts of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, and it is planned to be used by several aircraft and container ships as well.
SN15 will launch 6.2 miles into the sky at SpaceX's South Texas Starship construction center near Boca Chica Village.
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The 165-foot-tall Starship spacecraft and the first-stage "Super Heavy" booster will be part of the final device.
Will NASA Use SN15 for HLS Program This 2024?
As part of Musk's contribution to making humankind a "spacefaring society and a multiplanet community one day," SpaceX is building the Starship to help transport people and cargo to the moon and Mars.
NASA selected SpaceX's Starship for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, which will land Artemis astronauts on the moon in 2024.
Musk told reporters at a press conference after the successful launch of SpaceX's Crew-2 spacecraft that the final device will be operational by 2023.
"Obviously, we need to, like, not be making craters," he said. "Got some work to do, but making rapid progress. We've got to make sure we're accelerating the rate of innovation, and then it could be ready in a couple years."
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