Following a brief stay on the production site, Booster 9 has made its way back to the Orbital Launch Mount for added testing before its test flight.
One major change SpaceX made to Booster 9 was the addition to the highest of the booster. A vented interstage was attached to permit for Starship’s engines to ignite before separating from the booster, a technique often known as hot staging.
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Booster 9 being moved back to the Orbital Launch Mount (Credit SpaceX)
It’s unknown if SpaceX modified out any Raptor engines on the booster after the previous test fire.
SpaceX was going to maneuver the booster back to the OLM a bit earlier. Nonetheless, Tropical Storm Harold formed and was heading toward Starbase. Thankfully the storm made a slight turn to the North, and no major impacts occurred at Starbase.
Once Booster 9 arrived on the launch site, it was lifted via the ‘chopsticks’ and onto the launch mount.
It didn’t take long for SpaceX to start this test campaign as they partially filled the booster with liquid oxygen and performed a spin prime test of the engines. A spin prime test consists of flowing super chilled liquid oxygen through the Raptor engines’ turbopumps that simulate firing the engines only one step short of really lighting them.
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Booster 9 completing a previous spin prime test (Credit SpaceX)
The subsequent step might be one other static fire test for Booster 9. The last attempt ended abruptly as 4 Raptor engines shut down early during a planned 5-second test, and the opposite 29 engines ran for two.74 seconds.
As for a possible launch date, a brand new NOTMAR or Notice to Mariners has been issued for September eighth, and Elon Musk recently stated that the subsequent Starship launch might be “soon.”
While hopeful, it’s unlikely to launch by September eighth. Nonetheless, there’s a high likelihood it won’t be for much longer of a wait once the static fire is complete and the corporate gets the all-clear from the FAA.
A transparent sign that the 2nd integrated test flight is imminent might be the issuance of the NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) and, in fact, Starship being stacked atop Booster 9 and the flight termination system installed.