SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype fires rocket engines three times in one day - Space.com

The three-engine SN9 vehicle performed its second, third and fourth "static fire" tests in quick succession today (Jan. 13) at SpaceX's South Texas facilities, near the Gulf Coast village of Boca Chica.

During static fires, engines blaze briefly while a vehicle remains tethered to the ground.

Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars-colonizing vehicles in images.

"All three static fires completed & no RUDs!" SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter this afternoon.

SN9's flight is expected to be similar to the one performed last month by its predecessor, SN8, which soared about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) into the South Texas skies.

The transportation system consists of two reusable elements: a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) spacecraft called Starship and a gigantic rocket known as Super Heavy.

Both Starship and Super Heavy will be powered by SpaceX's next-generation Raptor engine.

The final Starship will sport six Raptors, Musk has said, and Super Heavy will feature about 30 of the engines.

Musk has set an ambitious timeline for Starship, stating that the system should start launching people to Mars by 2026 and could even do so in 2024 "if we get lucky." So expect the testing in South Texas to ramp up considerably in the coming months and years.

SN8 performed four static fires over the course of about a month before it took flight, after all.