BBC News:
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has performed a key test on its huge new rocket system, Starship.
Engineers conducted what’s called a “static fire”, simultaneously igniting 31 out of 33 of the engines at the base of the vehicle’s lower-segment.
The firing lasted only a few seconds, with everything clamped in place to prevent any movement.
Starship will become the most powerful operational rocket system in history when it makes its maiden flight.
This could occur in the coming weeks, assuming SpaceX is satisfied with the outcome of Thursday’s test.
The static fire took place at SpaceX’s R&D facility in Boca Chica on the Texas/Mexico border.
On Twitter Elon Musk said that the team had turned off one engine before the test and that another engine stopped itself, leaving 31 engines firing overall.
But, he added, it was “still enough engines to reach orbit”.
Even though this was not the full contingent of engines, it was still notable for the number of engines working in concert. The closest parallel is probably the N1 rocket that the Soviets developed in the late 1960s to take cosmonauts to the Moon.
It had 30 engines arranged in two rings. But the N1 failed on all four of its flights and was eventually cancelled.
