SpaceX SN8 Static Fire: When will the SN8 prototype perform a test flight?

Elon Musk’s private aerospace company is all set to perform a landmark flight test with its latest Starship prototype called SN8. Chris B of the NASA Space Flight recently confirmed on Twitter that the SN8 prototype already went through a successful static fire for a high-altitude test flight that could be conducted as early as next week.

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SpaceX SN8 Static Fire

The latest Starship prototype SN8 underwent a fourth static fire test on November 24 at 6:23 PM EST from the SpaceX's South Texas facility ahead of its milestone test flight. The SN8 is aiming to reach an altitude of around 15 km (50,000 ft). This is obviously a much higher altitude than the earlier starship prototype. The test flight is being targeted for November 30, 2020.

The SpaceX StarShip is the next-generation space transportation system developed by the aerospace company. The transportation system aims to carry people and cargo into the Earth's orbit, between destinations on the Earth, and other planetary destinations to launch satellites and other missions.

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While the SpaceX is yet to build its super heavy prototype, the aerospace company has already developed a number of test vehicles over the years which had also been tested. The Star Hopper, SN5, and SN6 are the three of the SpaceX test vehicles that are currently in flight. The company launched its Starhopper prototype on its highest flight last year in August, whereas the SN5 and SN6 prototype were launched August and September this year respectively.

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The three rocket prototypes came with single-engines and were able to reach maximum altitudes of about 150 m (500 feet) at launch. Unlike these three prototypes, the SN8 aircraft equips three of the engines and also features a nose cone which helps stabilize the body flaps. It is due to these reasons that the SN8 will be able to reach a much higher altitude than the earlier rocket prototypes.

The Starship SN8 prototype underwent its third static fire on November 12, however, it was faced with some issues which resulted in an early shutdown of the aircraft.

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Image credits: SpaceX