SpaceX has successfully tested a new rocket engine it plans to use to take people to Mars within the next 10 years. 

CEO Elon Musk tweeted about the successful first firing of the Raptor engine, and included two photos of it.

The test was conducted Sunday at the company's testing facility in McGregor, Texas, according to a SpaceX spokesman.

SpaceX isn't the only outfit testing rocket engines with an eye on Mars missions. In June, NASA test fired its Space Launch System booster rocket, which it expects to use on its own Mars missions.

Musk started SpaceX with the ultimate goal of transporting humans to Mars, and has spoken about his own dreams of living on the planet and even dying there -- "just not on impact."

He has said he expects SpaceX to make an unmanned mission to Mars by 2018, using existing technology. He plans to use the Raptor engine for a manned Mars mission by 2025.

SpaceX has yet to carry humans into outer space, but it has won a contract from NASA to carry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station as soon as next year.

SpaceX suffered a setback earlier this month when one of its rockets exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. The cause has yet to be determined, although Musk has said safety features on SpaceX's Dragon capsule would have kept astronauts safe, had they been aboard.

Related: Musk says SpaceX could take humans to Mars in 9 years

SpaceX has not said when it will resume flights. A source familiar with the company's plans told CNNMoney last week that it expects to return to space by November, much faster than other companies or space agencies have resumed flights after an explosion.

Musk promised to provide a sneak peak on Tuesday of the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), which is the rocket that he expects to send to Mars using the Raptor engine. That's when he's slated to deliver the keynote address at the prestigious International Astronautical Congress, discussing his plans to colonize Mars. </s> Image copyright SpaceX Image caption The Raptor engine was fired at SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas

Private firm SpaceX has carried out its first test of the Raptor rocket engine, designed to send humans to Mars.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced that the engine had been fired at the company's facility in McGregor, Texas.

If his vision is realised, it could power a super-heavy launch vehicle that would transport people to the Red Planet in coming decades.

But sending astronauts on round trips to our neighbour remains a formidable challenge.

Beyond the astronomical cost, there are the technical hurdles - currently unsolved - of protecting humans from the radiation levels they would be exposed to, once in deep space.

Mr Musk is set to outline his vision for a programme to colonise Mars at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Tuesday.

His announcement is being watched closely because SpaceX has already made several landmark achievements for a private space company, including successful upright landings of orbital rocket stages.

In an earlier series of tweets, Mr Musk pointed out the "Mach diamonds" in a picture of the engine test.

This is the name given to a type of wave pattern that appears in the supersonic exhaust plume of a rocket engine or jet engine.

When the Raptor was first announced in 2012, SpaceX said it would be several times more powerful than the Merlin 1 family of engines designed to power the company's Falcon launch vehicles.

And, unlike the Merlin engines, which use a combination of refined kerosene and liquid oxygen as fuel, the Raptor will be powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen.

Raptor engines could eventually lift SpaceX's Mars Colonial Transport (MCT) towards the Red Planet.

For Mr Musk, Tuesday's speech should offer welcome respite from dealing with the fall-out of the company's launch pad explosion in September, which destroyed one of the company's Falcon 9 launchers and its payload - an Israeli-built communications satellite for Facebook. </s> This afternoon, a prototype of SpaceX’s next generation rocket took to the skies for a second time in south Texas, reaching a height of a small skyscraper before landing back on Earth. The flight demonstrated the vehicle’s ability to take off and land in a controlled manner, and it paves the way for more aggressive testing of the vehicle’s design in the months ahead.

The test, commonly referred to as a “hop” test, marked the highest flight yet of SpaceX’s prototype, nicknamed “Starhopper.” Equipped with one main engine, the vehicle flew for the first time on July 25th, but it only got about 60 feet (18 meters) off the ground, and the entire scene was shrouded in plumes of exhaust. Today, Starhopper provided a more impressive sight when it took off from SpaceX’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas, slowly climbing to its target altitude of around 500 feet (150 meters). Once there, the vehicle hovered in the air a full minute, before using its engine to land gently back down on the ground.

the vehicle hovered in the air a full minute

Starhopper’s tests are supposed to evaluate the design and hardware that’ll be used on the company’s future Starship rocket, a monster spaceship that SpaceX is developing to send people and cargo to deep space destinations like the Moon and Mars. Towering around 180 feet (55 meters) tall, Starship is meant to launch from Earth on top of a giant rocket booster called Super Heavy. When it reaches other worlds, the vehicle will land upright with its onboard engines, similar to how SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets land on the ground today. It’s also supposed to take off again from these distant destinations to return to Earth.

On these test flights, SpaceX has been testing a new engine called Raptor, which the company plans to use to power Starship. Starhopper has only been flying with one Raptor, but the final Starship design calls for the spaceship to have six Raptor engines. Three will be optimized to work best in our planet’s atmosphere at sea level, and the other three will be designed to work best in the vacuum of space.

Soon, SpaceX will add more engines to its test flights. The company has been building two new prototype rockets: one in Boca Chica and another at a SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, near where the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy fly. These two test vehicles are a bit more robust than the Starhopper, which was never meant to be a faithful replica of Starship. (The top portion of Starhopper also fell over during a particularly gnarly wind storm in Texas, and SpaceX opted not to replace it.)

The newer prototypes will be equipped with three engines each as well as grid fins for steering and better landing gear. The two are meant to perform a series of hop tests that could reach as high as 12 miles (20 kilometers) up in the months ahead. Eventually, SpaceX will fly prototypes that are supposed to achieve orbit during the first launches to space, once SpaceX finishes the Super Heavy booster. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also noted that the two teams building these prototypes are in a friendly race to reach space first. However, the rules aren’t super strict, it seems. “A success by both in close proximity would be amazing & each would count as a win,” Musk tweeted in August.

After performing just two hops, the Starhopper is officially being retired

After performing just two hops, the Starhopper is officially being retired as SpaceX focuses on the next prototype rockets. Starhopper will become a souped-up engine test stand where SpaceX can ignite Raptor engines vertically to see how they perform, according to Musk.

Now that this latest test is complete, Musk is poised to give an update on the Starship’s design and progress. Originally, he planned to give a talk at Boca Chica on August 24th, following the 500-foot flight. However, Musk pushed back the event after the Federal Aviation Administration was slow to approve Starhopper’s flight, forcing SpaceX to delay the test until Monday, August 26th. Musk recently suggested that the talk would occur as soon as mid-September, once the three raptor engines are attached to the Boca Chica test vehicle. </s> In a video posted online, the SpaceX Starhopper vehicle, which shares some resemblance to an R2-D2 droid, successfully took off from a test site in Boca Chica, Texas, hopping to a 150-meter altitude and then automatically landing on a nearby pad. Cold gas thrusters helped the vehicle to stabilize itself as it moved towards the landing pad.

​The vehicle on the video is the same Starhopper that conducted an 18-meter altitude test earlier in July, according to NasaSpaceflight’s Michael Baylor.

​Before the test hop began, local residents were asked to relocate or at least step outside, because the Raptor engine could create a pressure wave that could potentially shatter windows. The test also warranted the closure of nearby roads between 2 pm and midnight – potentially giving SpaceX enough time for a second test.

​The Raptor engines are designed for the upcoming BFR rocket which Musk hopes will take humans on their first mission to Mars. The booster alone is expected to have 35 Raptor engines, while the full stack is speculated to be up to 41 engines, if Musk’s July tweets are to be believed. In upcoming tests, SpaceX will test several Raptor engines at once, starting with three instead of just one, NasaSpaceflight says. </s> SpaceX launched its sub-scale Starship “hopper” spacecraft on a brief unpiloted up-and-down test flight at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test facility Tuesday, a dramatic demonstration of rocket technology intended to pave the way to a new, more powerful heavy lift booster and, eventually, crew-carrying interplanetary spacecraft.

Running a day late because of a last-second technical glitch, the squat Starhopper’s powerful methane-fueled Raptor engine thundered to life at 6:02 p.m. EDT, pushing the stubby test vehicle straight up into a clear blue sky atop a jet of flame and a churning cloud of exhaust.

A drone’s eye view of SpaceX’s Starhopper test vehicle blasting off from the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test facility. SpaceX

The spacecraft, shaped a bit like R2-D2 from the “Star Wars” movies, appeared to reach its FAA-approved 492-foot (150-meter) altitude limit, moved sideways and slowly descended to an on-target touchdown at a nearby landing pad. The approximately one-minute flight was the rocket’s second “untethered” test following a July jump to an altitude of about 65 feet.

Soaring to an altitude of about 500 feet, the Starhopper test vehicle slewed sideways before descending. SpaceX

The hardware SpaceX is testing is intended for a fully reusable two-stage vehicle featuring a powerful first stage, dubbed the Super Heavy Rocket, and the winged Starship.

After an approximately one-minute flight, the test vehicle safely landed. SpaceX

The hopper is a sub-scale version of the Starship’s propulsion system, the first to utilize a SpaceX-designed Raptor engine burning cryogenic methane with liquid oxygen.

SpaceX said the new booster-Starship system eventually will replace the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets as well as the Cargo and Crew Dragon capsules used to deliver supplies and, eventually, astronauts to the International Space Station.

“SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy Rocket are designed to deliver satellites to Earth orbit and beyond, at a lower marginal cost per launch than our current Falcon vehicles,” the company says on its website.

With a 30-foot-wide payload compartment, the Starship will be able to launch larger payloads to Earth orbit than current rocket systems and deliver crews and supplies to the space station, the company says, adding that in the long term, Starship also will be able to deliver crews and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said the company’s “aspirational goal” is to launch an initial cargo mission to Mars in 2022, followed by a crewed flight as early as 2024. Musk is expected to deliver an update on the rocket’s development soon and those targets could change. </s> SpaceX says it has the most powerful rocket in the world. And it might soon be ready to fly.

After weeks of waiting, the company's massive new launch vehicle, Falcon Heavy, finally faced a critical test on Monday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The exercise, known as a static test fire, is designed to test the Heavy engine's health, and collect data on its flight readiness. The rocket fired up its engines for about 10 seconds while keeping the rocket securely attached to a launch pad.

The company confirmed the test fire in a tweet.

Footage of the test fire on YouTube shows massive plumes of smoke swallowing the launch site while the engines give off a deafening roar.

The static fire is one of the last steps SpaceX must take before it can finalize a launch date for the Heavy's inaugural flight.

CEO Elon Musk reported on Twitter that the test fire "was good," and SpaceX will be "launching in a week or so."

When launch time does arrive, it will be a nail-biting moment. Musk said at a conference last year that he expects the test flight to fail.

If it does, Musk's personal Tesla Roadster will be among the wreckage.

He said last month that he wants to send the car to "Mars orbit." SpaceX later clarified that the Heavy will aim for an orbit around the sun that will, at times, put the car the same distance from the sun as Mars.

And if the launch is successful? That will be a quite a show.

The Heavy has three rocket boosters at its base. After launch, SpaceX will attempt to guide all three of those boosters back to Earth.

SpaceX is the only rocket maker in the world that lands boosters after orbital launches. It does so in order to reuse the hardware on future missions, which helps bring down the price of a single launch.

They've recycled rocket boosters many times from Falcon 9 launches. That's the rocket SpaceX has used since 2012.

But there's just one booster on the Falcon 9, compared to the Heavy's three.

The Falcon Heavy will also boast more than double the thrust of the most powerful rocket currently flying: The Delta IV Heavy, which is built by United Launch Alliance. That's a joint venture between legacy aerospace firms Boeing (BA) and Lockheed Martin (LMT).

The Falcon Heavy won't, however, be the most powerful rocket in history. That honor belongs to the Saturn V, the NASA rocket that was used for the Apollo moon landings and was retired in 1973.

The test fire occurred Wednesday after a series of delays as SpaceX worked to ensure the static fire would go smoothly. The test fire was potentially delayed even more thanks to the government shut down over the weekend. That meant government staff weren't around to oversee the test fire.

The rocket is, in fact, years overdue. SpaceX said back in 2011 that the rocket would be ready by 2013. Musk admitted last year that building the rocket was much more difficult than he initially anticipated. </s> Aug. 27 (UPI) -- SpaceX will once again attempt to launch its Starhopper test vehicle. Monday's test flight was aborted after the craft's methane-burning Raptor rocket engine failed to ignite.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that a wiring problem inside the engine's igniter was to blame for the engine failure.

"Raptor uses dual redundant torch igniters," Musk tweeted. "Better long-term, but more finicky in development."

Tuesday's attempt is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET. The launch will be streamed live online by several different sources.

The Starhopper is the test prototype for SpaceX's Starship, a fully reusable second stage and space vehicle that will be integrated into the company's BFR "Super Heavy" rocket. Once in space, Starship will be used to launch and land from other planets and satellites -- from the moon to Mars, for example.

If all goes as planned, Tuesday's test flight will see the vehicle ascend to 492 feet before executing a controlled descent to a landing pad 328 feet away.

The test site from which the Starhopper will launch is adjacent to Boca Chica Village, Texas, a small town 20 miles east of Brownsville. Residents were warned that a malfunction during the test flight could trigger an overpressure event strong enough to blow out windows in nearby homes.

The warning advised residents to go outside during the test flight. According to the written warning, a siren will sound ten minutes prior to the launch.

"At a minimum, you must exit your home or structure and be outside of any building on your property....to avoid or minimize the risk of injury," officials warned residents, according to the Brownsville Herald.

Starhopper made its initial untethered flight, rising just 65 feet into the air, last month. Flaming debris from that flight ignited brush fires the scored 100 acres in South Texas' Las Palomas Wildlife Management Refuge.

Tuesday's test flight will be the last for this particular prototype. Later this year, SpaceX will begin testing larger prototypes at suborbital heights. </s> Elon Musk said Tuesday that a self-sustaining colony of people could be living on Mars within 50 to 150 years.

The SpaceX CEO laid out his plan to colonize the Red Planet at the International Astronautical Congress, a meeting of multiple international space exploration associations in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Musk has long said he wants to make humans an "interplanetary species," and on Tuesday he addressed many of the technical, safety and cost challenges he'll face.

His goal is to bring the price of a ticket to Mars down to around $200,000 per person -- about the median price of a house in the U.S. Compare that to $10 billion, which is what Musk said it would cost to go to Mars using current technology.

He explained that a few crucial technical advancements must be made to make that price point possible, including making rockets that are reliably reusable.

SpaceX has already been heavily focused on that. The company has successfully landed six rockets that completed missions to orbit, and it intends to send one of those "used" rockets back into orbit later this year.

Related: SpaceX plans return to space by November, 3 months after blast

On the technical front, Musk has already introduced the world to the Raptor rocket engine he plans to use to take people to Mars, which is different that the engines used for the Falcon rockets that SpaceX has already sent on missions. The Raptor uses a different fuel and is far more powerful. The company completed a successful test fire of a Raptor rocket on Monday.

Musk said a spacecraft headed to Mars would need to use 42 Raptor engines at once

"You could lose multiple engines," he said Tuesday, "and continue the mission safely."

The initial goal is to pair the enormous rocket with a spaceship capable of carrying about 100 people (plus their luggage.)

Related: SpaceX successfully tests Raptor engine it plans to send to Mars

He admits "not too many people" will want to head to Mars at first. But on the bright side, he says there will be plenty of jobs.

"Mars would have a labor shortage for a long time," he added.

Once people are on Mars, Musk said they'll be able to grow crops in contained buildings with compressed atmosphere. They'll also have the resources they need to make more rocket fuel -- allowing them to send spaceships back to Earth.

About an hour before Musk took the stage to unveil his master Mars plan, a video depicting an artificial rendering of SpaceX's "Interplanetary Transport System" was posted to YouTube.

Musk has already said he wants to make the first unmanned trip to Mars before 2018. Next, he wants to send the first humans to Mars in 2024, with the spacecraft touching down in 2025.

Related: Elon Musk says astronauts would have been safe in the blast

And since Mars and Earth only line up enough to execute a launch once every 26 months, he said it'll take about 40 to 100 years to make all the trips required to get a sustainable colony of people up and running.

Of course, Musk is known for being overly optimistic with his deadlines, and admitted as much on Tuesday. "Timelines," he said, "I'm not the best at this sort of thing." </s> Aug. 27 (UPI) -- After an aborted attempt earlier this week, SpaceX's Starhopper test vehicle completed its highest flight yet Tuesday, taking off and landing at a launch site on the Texas coast.

In less than 2 minutes, the vehicle rose nearly 500 feet into the air, traveled to a landing pad 328 feet away and descended, landing in an upright position.

The Starhopper is the test prototype for SpaceX's Starship, a fully reusable second stage and space vehicle that will be integrated into the company's BFR "Super Heavy" rocket. Once in space, Starship will be used to launch and land from other planets and satellites -- from the moon to Mars, for example.

SpaceX attempted to launch the Starhopper on Monday, but officials aborted the test flight after the craft's methane-burning Raptor rocket engine failed to ignite.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that a wiring problem inside the engine's igniter was to blame for the engine failure.

"Raptor uses dual redundant torch igniters," Musk tweeted. "Better long-term, but more finicky in development."

The test site from which the Starhopper launched is adjacent to Boca Chica Village, Texas, a small town 20 miles east of Brownsville. Residents were warned that a malfunction during the test flight could trigger an overpressure event strong enough to blow out windows in nearby homes.

The warning advised residents to go outside during the test flight.

"At a minimum, you must exit your home or structure and be outside of any building on your property....to avoid or minimize the risk of injury," officials warned residents, according to the Brownsville Herald.

Starhopper made its initial untethered flight, rising 65 feet into the air, last month. Flaming debris from that flight ignited brush fires the scored 100 acres in South Texas' Las Palomas Wildlife Management Refuge.

Tuesday's test flight will be the last for this particular prototype. Later this year, SpaceX will begin testing larger prototypes at suborbital heights.
SpaceX successfully tests its most powerful rocket to date. The company's goal will be to use the Raptor (rocket engine) to power their "super-heavy" Interplanetary Transport System in facilitation of the colonization of Mars and beyond.