--- title: "SpaceX Fires Up Starship Engines Ahead of Next Orbital Test" description: "On Monday, SpaceX conducted a static fire test of its Starship spaceship, firing all six of its Raptor engines." date: "2023-06-28" modified: "2023-06-28" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/starship-engines-fired-up-next-flight" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # SpaceX Fires Up Starship Engines Ahead of Next Orbital Test ![On Monday, SpaceX conducted a static fire test of its Starship spaceship, firing all six of its Raptor engines.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Warm Up Earlier this month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [promised that Starship]() would be taking to the skies for its second flight test in the next six to eight weeks. Though questions still linger over the plausibility of that schedule, Musk and his engineers seem to be making steady progress. On Monday, SpaceX [conducted a static fire test]() of Ship 25, the latest Starship prototype, lighting up all six of its Raptor engines in an all-out blast that lasted between five to six seconds. The static fire test, a standard precursor to an actual launch, took place at SpaceX's flagship facility Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where Starship conducted its inaugural orbital flight in April — an exercise that [ended with the rocket exploding](). https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1673587083267518465 ## Coming in Hot There's still plenty more work to be done. Just days before the static fire test, Musk said in a live Twitter discussion that SpaceX will need to make "well over a thousand" changes ahead of its next launch, [as quoted by *Gizmodo*](), adding that he estimates a "60 percent" chance of success this time. The most significant of those tweaks is switching to what's called a "hot staging" approach for achieving a separation of the rocket's two stages, which failed to decouple during its first orbital flight after several engine failures. With hot staging, the second stage — in this case the Starship spaceship — fires up its engines while some of the engines of the first stage, the Super Heavy booster, are still on. Typically, a booster is completely shut off before the engines of the spaceship are activated. According to Musk, using hot staging will prevent a temporary loss of thrust during the separation sequence, bumping up Starship's already gigantic payload capacity of 100 metric tons by ten percent. But that means that SpaceX will have to fit the reusable booster with an extension that will direct the exhaust of the upper stage away from the rocket so it doesn't get destroyed. "This is the most risky thing, I think, for the next flight," Musk said. ## To-Do List The launch date for the second flight is still up in the air, though Musk remains ambitious. "We think, probably, the launch pad upgrades, and the booster and ship, are ready in about six weeks," Musk said, per *Gizmodo*. Along with engineering hurdles, SpaceX faces another massive obstacle in the Federal Aviation Administration, [which has grounded Starship]() pending an investigation. The FAA is concerned about the loads of [debris blasted into the surrounding environment]() by Starship's launch, including a heavy cloud of [sand and ash that reached nearby cities](). With all that being said, Musk's ambitious timeline is sounding like a big ask. **More on SpaceX:** *[Private Spacecraft Lost in Accident After SpaceX Launch]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()