SN10 Readies for Liftoff

Soon after SN9’s botched landing attempt, SpaceX started to prepare for the SN10 launch. Today, on February 25, 2021, SN10 did its second static fire test at its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. Today’s static fire test revealed that there was an issue with one of the three Raptor engines that power Starship. SpaceX quickly swapped out the broken engine for a new Raptor engine and did another static fire. This static fire was successful.

SN10 Getting Ready for a Static Fire

SpaceX’s final product will be Starship, which I have talked about before but I will recap it. Starship will take people and payloads to the Moon, and eventually Mars. Starship will also be able to fly below the atmosphere, like a flight from New York to London. Starship is made up of two components: the spaceship called Starship and the rocket known as Super Heavy. The final version of Starship will be powered by six Raptor engines. The Super Heavy will use 30 Raptor engines. This is because Starship will need enough power to launch itself from the Moon and Mars.

The static fires today are a good sign that we will be seeing SN10 launching very soon. For the SN10 prototype launch, SN10 will go 6.2 mi (10 km) in the sky. This is a similar altitude that both SN9 and SN8 reached. Unlike SN9 and SN8, SN10 hopes to land properly, which wasn’t the case for both SN9 and SN8. Let's hope that SN10 flies and lands correctly.

Planned Starship Prototype Changes

Sources:

Bergin, written by Chris. “Starship SN10's Raptors Installed as Testing Begins.” NASASpaceFlight.com, 9 Feb. 2021, www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/02/starship-sn10s-raptors-installed-refined-attempt/.

Bergin, written by Chris. “Starship SN9's Time to Shine - Test Series Targets a New Year's Resolution.” NASASpaceFlight.com, 29 Dec. 2020, www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/12/starship-sn9s-test-series-targets-new-years/.  

Pradhan, Arnav. SN9 Launch, Blogger, 25 Feb. 2021, www.arnavpradhan.com/2021/02/sn9-launch.html. 

Wall, Mike. “SpaceX Fires up SN10 Starship Prototype for 2nd Time.” Space.com, Space, 26 Feb. 2021, www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn10-second-engine-static-fire-test.