SpaceX is has been testing out the key components of a vehicle built to return human spaceflight to US soil, with an upgraded launch escape system for its Crew Dragon capsule.
The latest news on Dragon 1 is said the static fire test involving a simulated launch using a rocket engine secured to the ground would happen at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida next week. The capsule which is called Crew Dragon is SpaceX’s spacecraft that is anticipated to carry as many as seven people to the International Space Station.
After a successful experimental fly to the space station and back in March a mission is known as Demo-1 – SpaceX performed “static fire” of the capsule’s SuperDraco engines, which would have been in use only during an emergency. A static fire is a word in the space industry for a specific type of test, where a rocket engine is strapped down to the ground and fired up, to simulate the motor during flight and show it operates smoothly.
The test is set to take place at the same place the April anomaly occurred, the people said. Like the previous test, a provisional test stand is being set up at LZ-1 for the capsule. As indicated by SpaceX’s name for the facility, the company typically uses LZ-1 to land the boosters of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
In early September, SpaceX carried out a successful static-fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket being prepped to lift the Crew Dragon into space on its first manned mission. Now it seems to have solved the design flaws of the launch escape system, sharing a video of it in action on Twitter.
