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SpaceX stacks its Starship prototype in preparation for another test flight
SpaceX has conducted several test flights of its Starship prototype, and so far, they’ve all flown only a portion of the rocket. Previous test flights have lacked the nosecone where one day payloads and perhaps astronauts will sit. SpaceX is gearing up for another test flight, and this time it’s attaching the nosecone on top of the rocket.
The coming test flight will see the vehicle fly higher than any past flight tests have gone. Once the rocket is complete, it will make an uncrewed test flight to an altitude of nine miles. The rocket is currently being assembled at the South Texas site the company uses for testing.
The nosecone being attached to the spaceship in the image above, is known as Starship SN8, which stands for Serial Number 8. SN8 earlier this week tested its trio of Raptor engines in a static fire test with no issue. Before the spacecraft lifts off, it will conduct another static fire test.
SpaceX Starlink Is on a Roll
Bill Gates has a history of interest in satellite Internet and in September, Microsoft announced their Azure Obrital ground station service, which enables satellite access to its Azure cloud services. SES, Viasat, and Intelsat were announced as initial partners and SpaceX just signed up. Starlink+Azure Orbital will compete with Amazon's satellite constellation and its ground-station service. (For more on Azure Orbital, check out this podcast interview and transcript of product manager Nora Zhan).
SpaceX did some good and got good publicity by providing seven user terminals to the Washington State Emergency Management Division for deployment in at least one region hit hard by summer wildfires. Richard Hall, the emergency telecommunications leader of the Washington State Military Department's IT division, said he had "never set up any tactical satellite equipment that has been as quick to set up, and anywhere near as reliable" as Starlink.
This month, SpaceX provided connectivity to the Hoh Indian tribe west of Seattle. I don't know how many terminals were provided or the speed and latency of the service, but the response and publicity have been positive.
SpaceX reaches 100 successful launches with Starlink mission
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites Oct. 24, marking the 100th time the company has placed payloads into orbit.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 11:31 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage deployed the payload of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit 63 minutes after liftoff. The first stage, making its third flight, landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the 100th successful launch in the company’s history. That total includes 95 Falcon 9, three Falcon Heavy and two Falcon 1 launches. The company also suffered three Falcon 1 launch failures and one Falcon 9 launch failure; another Falcon 9 was destroyed in 2016 during preparations for a static-fire test.
originally posted by: combatmaster
Starship is a bit of a reach .... no? ITs just a rocket
if they want to call their vehicle a Starship, that's quite alright with me