SpaceX has just completed a 150-meter hop for its Starship SN5, the prototype for its Mars spacecraft, on Tuesday afternoon, August 4.
The full-size Starship SN5 test vessel took off from the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site, near Boca Chica Beach and Brownsville. The hop lasted for 40 seconds, reaching a total 150m and promising results for the aerospace company's future plans for reaching Mars.
Shortly after the launch, Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, took to Twitter and wrote: "Mars is looking real."
Today marks the beginning of a new era, even though this is a small step. We are a giant leap closer to mars than we were yesterday, the future of interplanetary travel is upon us. MARS HERE WE COME! pic.twitter.com/PM73bTBS5k — Austin Barnard (@austinbarnard45) August 5, 2020
SpaceX Starship SN5 Project
At around 7:57 PM EDT, 6:57 PM local Texas Time, the stainless-steel cylinder began its ascent. The unmanned test flew vertically, with a little sideways swing during the flight, completing its targeted maximum altitude of 150 meters or 500 feet. Shortly after it glided down, the Starship SN5 managed to deploy its landing legs and executed the landing.
The SN5 prototype is SpaceX's second Starship craft to be launched. Back on July 30, SN5 first completed a static fire test - with a Raptor engine mounted on the prototype - and announced that its 150-meter hop is coming soon.
Four days after, on August 3, SpaceX set the Starship SN5 for its first attempt. It was aborted after finding a spin start on the Raptor engine that failed to open. It successfully made the hop earlier on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first full-scale prototype to successfully complete its flight test.
Last 2019, SpaceX also found success with the Starhopper prototype. The stubby, 9-meter wide vessel made a few flights. In March 2019, the company conducted an integrated system testing, including its new ground support equipment. It was later used to test subsystems used in the Starship program, conducting low altitude test flights. Its final test flight was conducted in August 2019, posting its own successful hop at 150 meters.
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A Step Towards Commercial Flights to the Moon, and Maybe Mars
The Raptor engine, used in both the Starhopper and the Starship SN5, is SpaceX's full-flow staged combustion rocket. According to Elon Musk's statement during last September 2019, the final form of the Starship, with its Super Heavy booster, will be capable of carrying up to a hundred people to other locations outside Earth. Its final design specifies six Raptor rockets, standing at about 50 meters, or 165 feet.
The final form of the Starship will be supported from its Earth take-off by the Super Heavy, a booster stage propelled by its own 31 Raptor engines. Musk noted that both stages of the spacecraft are fully reusable and with quick turnaround time.
Among the high-profile passengers that will be onboard the SpaceX Starship is the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, founder of Japan's largest online fashion retail site Zozotown. Maezawa booked the supposed "first passenger trip around the moon" on the SpaceX project then known as the BFR - "Big Falcon Rocket" - for an undisclosed amount. Since then, Maezawa has been an active supporter of SpaceX projects, contributing financial support to the Starship program.
SpaceX, which Elon Musk founded back in 2002, was formed with the goal of reducing costs involved with space travel and enabling humanity as a multi-planet species.
Watch as SpaceX's Starship SN5 makes its hop below:
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