Elon Musk test fires new Space X Raptor rocket engine for Starship space craft
Eccentric tech billionaire Elon Musk’s space exploration company Space X has test fired the Raptor engine for its Starship space craft.
Musk tweeted videos of the tests today from Space X’s Texas base.
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First firing of Starship Raptor flight engine! So proud of great work by @SpaceX team!! pic.twitter.com/S6aT7Jih4S
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2019
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2019
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2019
Musk said the green tinge visible was either a result of camera saturation or of a tiny bit of copper from the chamber.
Yesterday Musk tweeted a picture of himself next to the rocket engine as it was prepared for testing.
At @SpaceX Texas with engineering team getting ready to fire new Raptor rocket engine pic.twitter.com/ACFM8AtY8w
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2019
Last month Space X revealed it was cutting 10 per cent of its 6,000-strong workforce.
The company announced it would be parting ways with around 600 people due to the “extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead”.
Read more: Space X to slash 10 per cent of staff
“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company,” a spokesperson said in an email.
“Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organisations.”
The company has announced plans for a trip to Mars to be achieved by 2022, with a manned mission set to follow two years later.