Why Did SpaceX Fire This Odd Starship?

I explain why SpaceX static fired the odd looking Ship 26!

#SpaceX #starship #elonmusk #starbase

Editing: John Young, Alex Potvin, Stefanie Schlang
Photography: John Cargile, John Winkopp & Stefanie Schlang
3D Animation: Voop3D
Script & Research: Nathan, Soren, Oskar Wrobel, Felix Schlang
LIVE Production: Astro Roadie, Jonahan Heuer
Host: Felix Schlang
Production: Stefanie & Felix Schlang
Graphics & Media Processing: Jonathan Heuer, Felix Schlang

Credit:

⭐SpaceX
⭐NASA
⭐VirtualSpace_3D on X: @Lolomatico3d
⭐The Ring Watchers on X: @RingWatchers
📄Links for this Episode:

[J]

I had such high hopes for 26… I initially thought it would be a test vehicle for in orbit fueling, then I thought it would be used as an HLS mock up simulator and now it’s probably getting scrapped… it’s my birthday ship 😢

[reactionsu]

S26 just seems like a ship they’ve chosen to do the other ships dirty work 😂

[ecospider]

Don’t worry before it gets scrapped we will find an asteroid heading to earth. It can only be deflected by a starship running into it. Other rockets are too small. Don’t worry we still have ship 26.

[VistokDB]

Its probably to test new ground work. Because you always gotta test new static fire stands. S26 might most probably built for this purpose, to test this new ground work. They might also be improving it to match more with the current starships so its all on track. Will expect it to be Scrapped when Block II is now being used so SpaceX can build a newer one since improving it more is expensive than building a new one.

[raptorwhite]

What if it's a test expendable Starship? It would explain why it doesn't have a heat shield and flaps

[davideguidotti]

I believe Ship 26 will be used for an orbital test with a separate ship to dock between the two and transfer fuel. Ship 26 is a was designed to be an orbital tank.

[charlesswink]

Odd Starship could used in Orbit for refueling other Starship's!

[tfk]

My GUESS is that some engineer brought up the theory that, if designed wrong, the flame trench could cause damage to the starship & he/she was persuasive enough for someone in engineering or management to say, “let’s first try it out on a vehicle that we don’t care about.” Apparently, the trench was not designed wrong, but the validation test strikes me as a good idea, considering this prototype was already available.

“1 experiment is worth a 1000 theories.”

[secondamendment]

Wouldn’t it make some sense to use 2 older ships to work out the kinks of fuel transfer in space? If your not going to take full loads into space they could run some of their oldest raptors and an old ship if you aren’t going to recover them when your done.

[LaFranceBonjour]

It’s probably an expendable version for ultra heavy applications

[TamagoHead]

The flame trench engineering is a handful by itself.

[leog.]

I see Ship 26 like a pathfinder. They just want to test "things" whith this ship, it will never go orbit i think. (Please answer this comment if you see it when S26 is orbiting earth just to remind me i was wrong)

[MrLtcslick]

They might just keep it until it falls apart.

[RighteousAvenger]

They didn't want to hurt its feelings.

[rangnarthered]

My opinion is they saved money by reusing a engine they know is capable of putting out the right amount of thrust to test new equipment and infrastructure with

[jackdedert]

If that's not the Lunar Lander, it's a prototype

[caldwellbrett]

I would guess its because if it falls over and explodes or just explodes, then it's not one of the fully dressed ones getting caught in a R.U.D.

[ozjohnno]

ship 26 is either a NASA, or an air/space force ship... freaky stuff is gonna happen, right up till the time it is A launch we will know NOTHING about....

[jorgesolis]

He is just burbning money and dreams...