this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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2.7 second long static fire with 4 premature shutdown Raptor engines.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The engine shutdowns and early test end aren't my favorite if Booster 9 is still supposed to be used for the next orbital test flight.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Waiting to find out the reasons for the premature shutdowns, and for pics of the steel plates...

Great to see the test campaign swing back into action!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm hoping this test was mostly for the deluge system, not the booster, so they were running with extra safe engine shutdown limits. That's just blind hope, though.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the other hand, the whole point of testing is to find these issues and fix them before the real flight.

I wonder if they will do another test before orbital.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I mean, I get the hardware rich testing mindset, but I thought the engine design was supposed to be stabilizing and getting more reliable. You have to admit that losing 4 engines in under 3 seconds isn't great.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Engine design is not stabilising yet, they are still pushing performance. Raptor 3s are now rolling off the line which again have increased performance. They also target a reduction in complexity with each iteration which should in the end increase reliability. But reliability itself is a later target once the design is mostly settled.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it’s not exactly ideal. Let’s hope the root cause isn’t a big issue.