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Old 28-07-2020, 06:43 PM
glend (Glen)
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glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
The current test vehicle is SN5, contains a Single Raptor engine. It is scheduled to fly up to 150m and land in the newly constructed landing pad a Boca Chica (which is the main SpaceX facility for the Starship program). Update from Elon via the Utube feeds, says there was a problem with the fuel spin valve this afternoon, which is why they scrubbed the static fire. They are working on it now, in the dark. And it is expected to be good to conduct static fire tomorrow morning. Static fire is just a short ignition of the engine (like 4 seconds), to make sure all the systems are operational before the test flight. SN5 carries externally mounted RCS control systems to control orientation during this short Hop. Later versions have internal RCS system.
They have several other test vehicles (SN6, SN7, and SN8) in the shipyard being readied for more ambitious flights, each of these are improvements on the previous model. Assuming SN5 hops to 150m then it will be retired and SN6 will be moved to the launch area, likely for the 20km test flight. SN6 will likely be the first of the full stack vehicles (which means it will have the nose section and maybe control fins). SN6 will carry three Raptor engines. SN5 is basically the tank section with a mass simulator in top to mimic the weight of a full ship.
SN5 does have landing legs, they are tucked up under the engine skirt and will deploy for landing on the pad. Subsequent version will have more robust landing leg designs, but unlikely to be like the Falcon 9 legs.
SpaceX is also constructing a high bay building, where the Super Heavy Boosters will be assembled. The SH boosters are needed to get a loaded Starship to high orbit and for Lunar and Martian flights.Each SH booster will likely contain between 27 and 31 Raptor engines. So they are going to need a bigger building.
A Starship can achieve low Earth orbit on its own, if lightly loaded, pushed by 7-9 Raptor engines. I won't go into the differences between atmo and vacuum engines right now.

Hope that helps.
Yes I am a tragic, I do watch the Utube feeds from the site, but I avoid the chat line these days.
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