SpaceX is advancing the development of its next-generation Starship rocket , conducting its second short -flight test in a month.
The prototype Starship Serial Number 6, or SN6, lifted off from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, facility. It gradually climbed to 500 feet above Earthbefore returning to the ground. The flight test appeared to be identical to the test of the SN5 prototype on Aug. 5.
The prototypes are made of stainless steel and represent the first versions of the Starship rocket that CEO Elon Musk unveiled last year. The company is developing the craft with the goal of launching cargo and 100 people at a time on missions to the Moon and Mars.
SpaceX is steadily building multiple prototypes at the company's expanding facility in Boca Chica. While SpaceX's fleet of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are partially reusable, Musk's goal is to make Starship fully reusable, like a commercial airliner, with short recovery times between flights where the only significant cost is fuel.
The repeated flight test represents a continuation of what Musk has said about Starship development, as he tweeted that SpaceX will be showing prototypes “soon enough to smooth out the launch.” The back-to-back successful flights show that Starship development is accelerating, as the program had suffered several setbacks over the past year.
Musk also acknowledged on Monday that the craft has a lot of potential for carrying passengers on flights.
"We need to get it working first. Automatically delivering satellites and doing hundreds of satellite missions before we put people on board," Musk said.
He expects the first flight tests of Starship in orbit won't come until 2021, saying SpaceX is in "uncharted territory.".
