Starhopper ship from SpaceX rose to a height of 150 meters: how it was

"Well, the second time certainly will!". Perhaps it is this thought Elon Musk, when the timer to start Starhopper - spacecraft prototype Starship, was only a few seconds. The first launch of August 26 was canceled for 1 second before the start, but the second time the device successfully took off and slowly sat up after a short flight, what joy Musk said in his Twitter account.

Guys, how is it that you have no gravitsapu pepelats rolls out of the garage? This disorder ...

The second flight Starhopper

A few seconds after starting Starhopper

During the test the vertical Starhopper flight successfully climbed to an altitude of 150 meters, and then gently landed on the ground. Despite the fact that SpaceX wanted to spend the flight to an altitude of 200 meters, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a permit to "jump" not more than 150 meters.

By tradition flight took place in Boca Chica, Texas. It lasted about a minute.

The successful landing Starhopper

Initially, the ship could barely get off the ground, as we wrote in our channel in Yandex. Zen. A first major test Starhopper passed recently - in July this year. Then the ship rose to a height of 20 meters, but it was already a strong progress: before the machine is constantly there were any problems. So, before the first start, he fired up straight during the test. For a week before the event took place a similar incident, only if the fire was even more ambitious. See also - prototype spaceship company SpaceX again caught fire during a test

Literally Starhopper name translates as "jumper to the Stars", and the unit itself is really more like not a spaceship, and a barrel. Although the wait, is not that Pepelats?

Pepelats (left) and Starhopper (right)

Why Starhopper explodes

In fact, even the climb to 150 meters is a huge achievement for SpaceX and Elon Musk. Previously, the company could not solve the problem of leakage of fuel, which is why its experimental devices exploded before launch. for the same reason this spring exploded spacecraft Crew Dragon, which the company intends to use for manned missions to orbit the Earth. A little later, SpaceX engineers identified the cause and perhaps to this test Starhopper already fixed the problem.

See also - Why actually exploded, the American spacecraft Crew Dragon

When Starhopper fly into space

Prototype Starhopper should form the basis of a vast space spaceship Starship, equipped with 6 engines Raptor. For him, it is also going to develop the first stage of Super Heavy, which will be equipped with 35 engines Raptor. With the apparatus it will be displayed on a near-earth orbit.

"Once Starship landed right on the sands of Mars" - so he answers the question himself Elon Musk. However, before the full flight of SpaceX need to spend a minimum of two tests: vertical flight to an altitude of 500 meters and 5000 meters. In the future Starship Musk is going to use the ship to transport people and cargo to the moon and to Mars. Another usage of the ship - as a transport in the earth's atmosphere. In this case, allegedly, flight, for example, from Moscow to New York will take about 30-60 minutes.