Starship: SpaceX test-fires powerful engines on Mars rocket

Not all engines fired, but Elon Musk said it was 'enough to reach orbit'

SpaceX fired 31 out of the 33 raptor engines on the world’s most powerful rocket that is being developed to take humans to Mars and beyond, on Friday. AFP

The Starship booster static fire test was performed at SpaceX Starbase, Texas launch pad near Boca Chica Beach. AP

This frame grab from a video provided by SpaceX shows a test-firing on February 9, 2023 of the massive engines on the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and beyond, at a SpoaceX base in Boca Chica, Texas. - The test, called a static fire, of the 33 Raptor engines on the first-stage booster of Starship took place at a SpaceX base in Texas. (Photo by Nicholas KAMM / SPACEX / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SPACEX" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The Starship spacecraft features six the 33 Raptor engines and each engine produces 230 tonnes of thrust. AP

SpaceX completes a crucial fuelling test of its Mars rocket Starship on January 24, 2023. Photo: SpaceX

The Starship rocket on a Starbase launch pad in Texas on January 12, 2023. Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX has fired the engines on the world’s most powerful rocket in a boost to its ambitious plans to eventually take human beings to Mars and beyond.

The static fire test took place on Thursday at SpaceX’s facilities in Boca Chica, Texas.

The company managed to fire 31 of the 33 engines, which billionaire company owner Elon Musk said was "enough to reach orbit".

Mr Musk hopes to lead the way in multiplanetary human life using his Starship rockets, a system that includes a Super Heavy Booster and the Starship spacecraft.

Videos of the booster’s engines being fired were posted on social media by SpaceX.

"Team turned off one engine just before start and one stopped itself, so 31 engines fired overall,” Mr Musk tweeted. “But still enough engines to reach orbit.”

The booster has 33 Raptor engines and the Starship spacecraft uses six, each produces 230 tonnes of thrust.

That is slightly more than the RS-25 engines that Nasa’s new Moon rocket Space Launch System uses.

On January 24, SpaceX completed a crucial fuelling test of the deep-space rocket ― an important step before an orbital test flight can take place.

Starship was loaded with 4.6 million kilograms of propellant.

“Starship completed its first full flight-like wet dress rehearsal at Starbase today,” SpaceX said at the time.

“This was the first time an integrated ship and booster were fully loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant.

“Today’s test will help verify a full launch countdown sequence, as well as the performance of Starship and the orbital pad for flight-like operations.”

The success of these tests means that the company is another step closer to carrying out the first orbital test flight of the rocket.

But SpaceX still has to secure a launch licence from US authorities before the rocket can lift off.

As part of the test flight, the rocket will launch from Starbase and the booster will separate from the spacecraft about 170 seconds into the flight.

The booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 32km from the shore.

The orbital Starship will continue flying between the Florida Straits.

It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted, soft-ocean landing approximately 100km off the north-west coast of Kauai, a Hawaiian island.

SpaceX is contracted by Nasa to develop the Starship Human Landing System, which would enable astronauts to land on the Moon under the US space agency’s Artemis programme.

But Mr Musk's ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary by sending a million people to Mars by 2050 using his Starship fleets.

Mr Musk has already sold seats on the Starship, including to American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who bought a place on the first crewed orbital flight.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will fly on a crewed flight to the Moon, taking eight artists with him as part of his dearMoon programme.