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Wiki Super Heavy/Starship - General Development Discussion

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SN4 rolling out to the pad this morning (in fog),
sn4-moving.jpg
 
Great photo! So once SN4 — fingers crossed — passes the pressurization tests is an additional section added at the bottom, extending the length of the vehicle, to mount the engines to?
I think the skirt at the bottom already has room for the raptors. Not sure how many (1 or 3) may be added to to SN4. As I understand it, the launch mount has some kind of hydraulic system for simulating stress from engine thrust, so they can test the structure without ruining any raptors if things go bad. Check out this video from BocaChicaGal with great views of SN4 being lowered onto the mount. It also has closeups of the hexagonal heat shield tiles they are testing.


Elon did tweet this a while ago, so I guess they will try to put at least one engine on SN4:
Elon Musk @elonmusk - 10:34 PM · Apr 15, 2020
SN4 won’t get flaps, so can only do flights with engine on. Just did a reset this week on flap, actuator & static aero design. Either SN5 or SN6 will get flaps.
 
Great news! I was waiting to hear that.

This part of the article caught my attention, quote:

“As part of its fast, iterative design process, SpaceX has already stacked SN5, the next Starship prototype. It could very well fly higher than SN4, providing SpaceX engineers ever more data as they seek to understand their new, powerful rocketship.”

It is incredible how rapidly the prototypes are being constructed!