After Starship test fire Elon Musk expects 150m hop 'soon'

SpaceX has been building and testing Starship prototypes (which are designated by the "SN" followed by their number in sequence) since a year ago, after the company first built a sub-scale demonstrator that was made up of basically just the base of a Starship with a single Raptor engine mounted to demonstrate low-altitude flight and landing capabilities.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted a photo of the event (below), and also said that the Starship would complete a "150m hop soon". In a video shared by NASASpaceflight.com, the test seemed, by all accounts, to be ostensible, clearly giving SpaceX engineers the certainty they need in the most recent emphasis of Starship.

Not long after the test, the author and boss designer of SpaceX, Elon Musk, affirmed that the static fire implied the organization now plans to push ahead with a short practice run of the vehicle.

SpaceX has successfully test-fired the SN5 prototype, however, as of today, and will now move on to the first low-altitude "hop" flight of full-scale prototype test vehicle. That examination, in which a single Raptor engine powered the motor vehicle upward and laterally for about 100 meters in advance of landing, was productive in demonstrating thrust and vector control of the methane-fueled motor.

It has manufactured a noteworthy plant in South Texas and has started to produce Starship models.

SpaceX has fired the engine of its powerful Starship rocket that could one day take astronauts to the moon and beyond.

Even as SpaceX has been putting SN5 by means of its paces on the check stand, there are bits of hardware at the internet site for a number of potential prototypes, including types that will use a new, tougher steel alloy.