NSF reported 20 SpaceX engine tests in a week

The American company SpaceX conducted 20 tests of engines for space rockets during the week. This was reported by NASA Spase Flight (NSF) on Tuesday, September 16.

"After switching to engine development, SpaceX spent an eventful week at its facility in McGregor, Texas, conducting 20 engine tests. Eight of them were dedicated to Raptor engines, and the rest to Merlin engines," the publication says.

During this week, a new record was set — the engine running time of 354 seconds turned out to be the longest running time for a Raptor 3 on the Raptor stand and only 20 seconds less than the Raptor record in history.

"However, not all the tests went flawlessly. The launch of Raptor 3 on a vertical stand was abruptly interrupted after 40 seconds due to an explosive shutdown," the article says.

At the same time, it is possible that this was not an unsuccessful launch, but one of the tests that suggested intentionally bringing the engine to failure. However, no launches were observed at this stand during the next week.

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Earlier, on August 26, SpaceX announced that the Starship spacecraft had successfully completed its 10th test flight. It was clarified that the rocket landed in the waters of the Indian Ocean.

On the same day, SpaceX announced the launch of Starship as part of its 10th test flight. It was clarified that the flight was broadcast live on the company's website.

SpaceX cancelled the 10th launch of the Starship spacecraft on August 25 due to bad weather conditions.

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