For the first time ever, SpaceX has conducted a steady-firing test of the Super Heavy test stage. Number three, the Raptor engine ran in the stipulated time, less than four seconds. There is great potential to achieve the objectives set by the engineers.
Stationary test of Booster 3’s three Raptor engines. part of the preparation for the first orbital flight of starship, in its full configuration, which SpaceX. This point-to-point flight is scheduled for the end of the year and will include connecting to the Boca Chica base in Texas.archipelago of Hawaii while flying in space.
This test shows that preparations for the super heavy stage are underway but there is still work to be done. Lots of work too. In fact, you should know that at this stage, in its operational configuration, there will be more than 30 Raptor engines. This engine running on a mixture of oxygen liquid (locks) and liquid methane (CH.)4), not yet in service. in present, falcon 9 And the Falcon Heavy use the Merlin engine.
Called Booster 3, this test phase may be used again, but it is not certain. It is not intended to be flown in space or during flight suborbital. It is used only for ground tests, especially for example for tank filling process, temperature and pressure management. said that, Elon Musk indicated on Twitter That the reuse of this stage for a new test will depend on the progress of Booster 4. If 3 must be used again, nine motors will be installed and tested simultaneously.
SpaceX conducted a static test of its Super Heavy Booster 3 prototype in Boca Chica, Texas. © SpaceX
flying a multi-engine launcher
To understand the difficulty of flying a launcher many engines, it should be noted that, from one engine to another, the level of combustion are never the same and are very difficult to model, hence the importance of ground tests and the experience gained with flying falcon 9, which has nine engines in its main stage and the Falcon Heavy and 3X9 engines (its main stage includes the three main stages of the Falcon 9).
The jets of each engine do not mean that these jets act together as if they were separate engines. These jets would interact with each other and this could create a number of aerodynamic constraints, especially in the lateral and therefore hinder the climb of the machine. One jet can even extinguish another engine’s jet! Another problem is the orientation of the motors. This is clearly not the same as having three engines instead of one! with some debit This is also important, the skirt can have a suction and create a vacuum effect.
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