![SpaceX test fires its Super Heavy Booster 9 on Sunday.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/super-heavy-fire-800x450.jpg)
SpaceX
SpaceX on Sunday performed a static fire of a brand new Super Heavy booster at its launch site in South Texas. The ignition of 33 engines proved to be a spectacle, and there have been positives and negatives to be taken away from the short-duration test firing.
On the plus side, the rocket—dubbed Booster 9, as it’s the ninth to be built as a part of SpaceX’s iterative design methodology—survived the test and seemed to be in fine condition afterward. Also on the positive side of ledger, the corporate’s radically rebuilt ground systems, with an enhanced water suppression system, appeared to operate well in protecting the rocket and the launch pad.
Nonetheless, the test didn’t run a full duration. It ended after 2.74 seconds, in line with SpaceX’s webcast, wanting the planned five seconds. Furthermore, 4 of the rocket’s 33 foremost Raptor engines shut down prematurely. This means that SpaceX remains to be scuffling with the reliability of its Raptor engines despite intense work to enhance their performance. This rocket is powered by “Raptor 2” engines, and SpaceX is working on an upgraded “Raptor 3” version to handle reliability.
A step forward
Even so, Sunday’s testing marked a step forward for SpaceX, bringing the corporate closer to a second launch of its Starship vehicle. A full stack of the rocket includes the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. It will not be known whether SpaceX plans to perform additional tests of this booster, or gleaned enough data on Sunday to press ahead with a launch attempt this fall.
Accordingly, additionally it is not clear how far SpaceX is from a second Starship launch attempt. For the sake of comparison, a period of 70 days elapsed between the static fire test of Booster 7, which powered the primary Starship launch, and its liftoff. This debut launch attempt, on April 20, failed after engine issues and other problems doomed the flight of the booster stage.
Nonetheless, the undeniable fact that this latest test took place on a Sunday—SpaceX can only close the road resulting in its launch site and Boca Chica Beach on a number of weekend days per yr—indicates there may be some sense of urgency with this launch campaign.
SpaceX has made considerable progress because the April 20 launch attempt, which caused serious damage to the corporate’s Orbital Launch Mount and associated ground hardware in South Texas. Most notably, engineers and technicians have installed large water deluge system, and performed what seemed to be a successful test of it on July 28.
This technique features a thick, perforated steel plate beneath the rocket through which jets of water are fired to offset the warmth and acoustic energy of 33 Raptor engines firing concurrently. On Sunday, the results of this recent water deluge system was the production of an immense amount of steam, as intended.
Throughout the April launch attempt, the dearth of a sound suppression system led to significant damage, including the rupture of concrete chunks from the launch pad that rained down debris for miles across the Starbase location. That’s one area of concern being checked out by the Federal Aviation Administration, as SpaceX seeks a brand new launch license; and additionally it is the topic of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the Federal Aviation Administration to stop the issuance of a brand new license.
Data needed for regulators
It is probably going that SpaceX collected copious amounts of information in regards to the performance of the revamped launch site and water deluge system on Sunday as a way to provide information needed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a part of the launch licensing process.
One other issue yet to be resolved is the rocket’s flight termination system, which can be used to destroy the rocket in case it veers off beam during flight. Just lower than 90 seconds into its debut flight, the Super Heavy booster’s flight termination system was initiated. Nonetheless, there was a couple of 40-second delay between the initiation of the system and the rocket breaking apart.
![Sunday's test featured the debut of a new water deluge system at Starbase.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/booster-9-980x534.jpg)
SpaceX
This time lag posed no issues of safety with the rocket safely offshore, but it surely is an unacceptable lag for a system that’s speculated to terminate flight almost immediately. Several days after this launch attempt, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the issue could possibly be solved with a “longer detonation cord” to be certain the propellant tanks are fully unzipped rapidly. Nonetheless, he acknowledged that working through this issue with the Federal Aviation Administration may take a while.
“The longest lead item might be requalification of the flight termination system,” Musk said. Neither he nor the Federal Aviation Administration has provided any updates since.