Published 11:11 IST, December 9th 2020
SpaceX's Starship Test flight launch called-off due to engine failure at T-1 sec
SpaceX on Tuesday had to postpone its high-altitude suborbital flight test of Starship SN8 (Serial Number 8) prototype due to a Raptor engine auto-abort.
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SpaceX on Tuesday had to postpone its high-altitude suborbital flight test of Starship SN8 (Serial Number 8) prototype due to a Raptor engine auto-abort at the last second. The Elon Musk-owned space agency said that the launch was called off because of an automatic engine abort that occurred just 1.3 seconds before the takeoff. The company said that the next opportunities available are on December 9 and December 10, however, it also added that the schedule is dynamic and likely to change.
Attempting landing flip maneuver
The SN8 prototype was seeking to perform a landing flip maneuver during Tuesday's attempt, which if successful, would have been a first for a vehicle of its size. The flight is designed to test a number of objectives, including the performance of the vehicle’s three Raptor engines, one of which caused the automatic abort on Tuesday seconds before the launch. With Starship spacecraft, SpaceX is aiming to send both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
The SN8 vehicle had recently gone through a successful static fire for the upcoming high-altitude test flight. SpaceX has already tested other Starship variants this year, including the SN5 and SN6. The two vehicles had attained an altitude when they were launched from the company’s Boca Chica test site in Texas, the same centre from where SN8 attempted the launch. The company had called it "short-hop tests" and it was spread over a couple of weeks.
SpaceX Starship vehicle is designed to carry unprecedented weights to outer space and can deliver satellites further and at a lower marginal cost per launch than the company's current Falcon vehicles, which are being used by NASA to deliver crew and cargo to the ISS.
11:11 IST, December 9th 2020