[PreciousLiberty]

This article didn’t mention it but I believe SN8 will also have three Merlin engines installed for 1.5 million pounds of thrust total. The final version will have six IIRC. Up to now it’s only been one.

The first stage is slated to have something like 27, the count was just reduced because of thrust improvements to the engine design. It uses methane/LOX.

It’s pretty neat that they can do these flights without risk to pilots!

[Pollard]

The engines that will be tested in this case are SpaceX's next-generation Raptors — likely three of them, to get the SN8 up so high. SN5 and SN6 sported only a single Raptor, and those vehicles didn't have nosecones or control-improving body flaps, either. (SN7 was a test tank that SpaceX intentionally burst during a pressure trial this past June, in case you were wondering.)

SpaceX is iterating toward a final version of Starship that will feature six Raptors and, Musk has said, be capable of carrying up to 100 people to the moon, Mars and other distant destinations.

The 165-foot-tall (50 m) Starship will launch from Earth atop a gigantic rocket known as Super Heavy, which will be powered by about 30 Raptors of its own.

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn8-prototype-test-flight-soon.html

My favorite is the twin landings, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbbSCqaeWyA

[Moonman62]

Here’s a large image of the build site made on 09/12. SN8 is in the mid bay with SN5 and SN6 in front of the building. SN8’s main flaps are to the right of the building with one coming in on a truck. High bay is on the right in the foreground and still under construction. There are people on a scaffold for scale.

https://i.redd.it/ve960f8w9tm51.jpg
(You may need to click on the image to enlarge it.)

Reddit Thread:

https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/irofgf/flyover_0912_sn5_sn6_sn8_new_fins/