SpaceX's Falcon Heavy successfully fires all 27 engines during its static test fire

[ItsMitch]

The historic test comes after months of delays, problems, and government shutdown but it has finally been completed. The first ever Static Fire Test of it's 27 Merlin engines which performed a 7 to 10-second full engine burn which was to primarily test the engines and the rocket to make sure it can handle such power and not explode on launch. 

Quote

 

Today, SpaceX simultaneously fired up all 27 engines on its new massive Falcon Heavy rocket — a crucial final test for the vehicle before its first flight in the coming weeks. The company has yet to say if the test was successful, but if all went well, SpaceX could announce a launch date soon. When that happens, it’ll be the first time a definitive launch date has been given for the rocket’s inaugural voyage, a flight that was initially promised to happen as early as 2013.

Today’s test, known as a static fire, is meant to assess the performance of a rocket’s engines prior to launch. It involves restraining a rocket on a launchpad while igniting its engines to simulate the initial stage of launch — but without the rocket taking off. The rocket was tested at SpaceX’s launch site LC-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the Falcon Heavy is slated to launch. SpaceX typically does a static fire prior to every launch, but today’s is particularly special: it’s the first time the company fired up so many engines at once.

 

This could be the only static fire test the engines until the official launch of the Heavy. I'm really excited for how this will turn out for SpaceX as it could revolutionize space travel and getting to other planets successfully and affordable with its use of recovering rockets. It was speculated that the launch of Falcon Heavy could be as early as February 9th

 

Video of the static test fire - best quality I found

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/24/16841580/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-static-fire-first-launch

E:

Elon Musk has confirmed that the test went "good" and hopes for a launch in a week

 

[Dissitesuxba11s]

[Stefan1024]

So, all this engineering effort just to produce a big ass cloud of toxic fumes? Ok......

 

On topic: Nice to see progress, but Musk allways rush the procejts and promise unrealistic time lines. And then all the staff has to hurry to not shift the time line more than three times.

[XenosTech]

1 minute ago, Stefan1024 said:

So, all this engineering effort just to produce a big ass cloud of toxic fumes? Ok......

 

On topic: NMice to see progress, but Musk allways rush the procejts and promise unrealistic time lines. And then all the staff has to hurry to not shift the time line more than three times.

most rockets use hydrogen and oxygen these days as fuel, so that cloud you see is just steam

[ItsMitch]

 

1 minute ago, Stefan1024 said:

NMice to see progress, but Musk allways rush the procejts and promise unrealistic time lines. And then all the staff has to hurry to not shift the time line more than three times

I dunno, he's fairly confident that its ready and if he's willing to put out the statement of "in the week or so" then I'm sure it's ready, no real need to doubt him.

[Stefan1024]

2 minutes ago, XenosTech said:

most rockets use hydrogen and oxygen these days as fuel, so that cloud you see is just steam

They use RP-1 (purified kerosine).

And for the once that use hydrogen, they just create realy clouds, you can have them for free

 

(I do like rockets, nothing wrong with them.)

[Stefan1024]

4 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

 

I dunno, he's fairly confident that its ready and if he's willing to put out the statement of "in the week or so" then I'm sure it's ready, no real need to doubt him.

Yes, this time around. But when I'm using the term "or so", I give myself a large margin of error. On the other hand, they will probably launch it as soon as physically possible.

[Nocte]

7 minutes ago, Stefan1024 said:

So, all this engineering effort just to produce a big ass cloud of toxic fumes? Ok......

 

On topic: NMice to see progress, but Musk allways rush the procejts and promise unrealistic time lines. And then all the staff has to hurry to not shift the time line more than three times.

One of the reasons he managed to make progress on so many things that were thought to be "impossible" is his tendency to provide "unrealistic" deadlines and objectives. 

 

Yet...

[dalekphalm]

On 1/24/2018 at 1:57 PM, Stefan1024 said:

So, all this engineering effort just to produce a big ass cloud of toxic fumes? Ok......

 

On topic: Nice to see progress, but Musk allways rush the procejts and promise unrealistic time lines. And then all the staff has to hurry to not shift the time line more than three times.

I'm a little confused by your comment. A Static test firing of a new rocket design (the engines in particular), is pretty much standard operating procedure for rocket testing.

 

I'll give you the point that Musk is always very aggressive with his timetables. But that can be argued as a good thing, as it pushes people out of the "status quo" and to do their best - to do what was thought impossible or impractical.

 

And yes, he'll miss deadlines, and things will get pushed back. But that is modus operandi (standard procedure) for someone pushing the realms of what is possible. No one expects Musk to make every deadline he sets. Not even himself or his staff. Instead, those deadlines are there to push people to the limits of their creative and engineering capacity.