glend
04-09-2020, 04:50 AM
Early this morning AEST, the SpaceX SN6 test ship was successfully hopped, in the second test of the Starship prototype ( following on from the SN5 test).
Next test is the new tank design, (dubbed SN7.1), which is likely to occur on 6 Sept. which is a lower tank only section purposely built using new alloy, and is the prototype for the next versions of the main tank design. It will be placed on a test stand and "tested to destruction" to determine the absolute failure pressure which it can handle. NASA requires pressurised fuel tanks to achieve a human flight certification standard (in terms of Bar) , and this destructive test is part of the development process.
Today's hop test of SN6 is available to view on Utube now.
Next test is the new tank design, (dubbed SN7.1), which is likely to occur on 6 Sept. which is a lower tank only section purposely built using new alloy, and is the prototype for the next versions of the main tank design. It will be placed on a test stand and "tested to destruction" to determine the absolute failure pressure which it can handle. NASA requires pressurised fuel tanks to achieve a human flight certification standard (in terms of Bar) , and this destructive test is part of the development process.
Today's hop test of SN6 is available to view on Utube now.