SpaceX successfully launches Starhopper test rocket to 150m altitude 150

After the launch was canceled at the last minute on Monday night, SpaceX has successfully launched the Starhopper test rocket. It reached a height of about 150 meters and landed on a landing platform 100 meters away.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk thanked his team on Twitter. The Starhopper test rocket reached a height of approximately 150 meters at the Texas launch site in Boca Chica, a height previously authorized by the US FAA. That altitude was achieved by igniting a single Raptor methane engine. The rocket then landed vertically again, which incidentally shows that a part is knocked away during the landing, presumably a copv. The rocket steadily climbed to a height of 150 meters, then hovered briefly in the air and slowly descended again before landing. The entire flight time lasted 57 seconds.

This was the first time that the test rocket went quite a long way in the air without a wire. The Starhopper’s rocket engine was ignited in April, but then it barely got off the ground, according to plan. A height of 20 meters was then reached at the end of July. The Starhopper test rocket will not only be deployed to test the Raptor engine, but ultimately also to test vertical landing.

All of this should lead to the successful development of the Starship rocket, SpaceX’s new large launch vehicle that will eventually set sail for Mars. The top stage of this rocket gets six Raptor engines and the bottom stage called Super Heavy gets at least 35, but there could be more.

Starhopper will not be launched again. On Saturday, Musk indicated that it was a vertical test position for the Raptor engine becomes. For follow-up testing, SpaceX will use new rocket prototypes, one built at Boca Chica, Texas, and a second at Cape Canaveral. These more robust test missiles will each get at least three Raptor engines, grid fins to steer and better landing parts. These must be a to reach an altitude of perhaps 20 km.