FAQ
- When (first) orbital flight? First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. “The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship.”
- Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
- What’s happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/“shower head” system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
- When is the next flight test? Just after flight, Elon stated they “Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.” On April 29, he reiterated this estimate in a Twitter Spaces Q&A (summarized here), saying “I’m glad to report that the pad damage is actually quite small,” should “be repaired quickly,” and “From a pad standpoint, we are probably ready to launch in 6 to 8 weeks.” Requalifying the flight termination system (FTS) and the FAA post-incident review will likely require the longest time to complete. Musk reiterated the timeline on May 26, stating “Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship.”
- Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM? Musk tweeted on April 21: “3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch.” Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.
Quick Links
RAPTOR ROOST | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE
Relevant Reddit threads (though these likely won’t be accessible during the blackout).
Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45 | Starship Dev 44 | Starship Dev 43 | Starship Thread List
Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread
Status
Road Closures
No road closures currently scheduled
No transportation delays currently scheduled
Up to date as of 2023-07-09
Resources
- LabPadre Channel | NASASpaceFlight.com Channel
- NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
- NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
- NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
- SpaceX: Website Starship page | Starship Users Guide (2020, PDF)
- FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
- FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
- FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
- NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
- Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
- Production Progress Infographics by @RingWatchers
- Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
- Acronym definitions by Decronym
- Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
- Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine
I’ll attempt to keep this post current with links and major updates, but would be greatly helped by information supplied by the community. I hope this can be an alternate place to discuss Starship development. While the Starship Development Threads on Reddit are not party threads, Lemmy is still small enough that I don’t imagine that strict moderation will be needed in the short term.
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase Live-
8:31am- Mini excavator arrives and starts digging towards the back left side. Start of the pit for the deluge piping to run over to the underground bunker from the OLM?
9:56am- Manifold sections come into view
9:59am- Head on view looks like some crazy new battle tank coming down the road
10:31am- Manifolds arrive at the launch site. Now we just need one of the cranes to disconnect from the plate to lift them. (Just based on position, I’d assume it’ll be the LR11000)
10:49am- Steel plate raised back up
12:46pm- Plate lowered again
12:47pm- 3rd smaller crane comes in and removes a piece of metal
1:06pm- LR11000 looks to be unhooked
1:07pm- Small crane removed another piece of metal.
1:13pm- Another piece of metal removed
1:25pm- Grover is unhooked
1:29pm- Grover swings away and lowers.
1:31pm- A poor telehandler driver learns the dangers of driving in the rain next to a slope
1:38pm- Another piece of metal removed
1:42pm- Mini excavator with a Jack hammer attachment starts working in between the leg with the cryo pipes and the leg with the new staircase
1:50pm- 4th piece of metal removed
1:58pm- 5th piece of metal removed
2:30pm- Front end loader hooked to the stranded telehandler
2:34pm- Flat piece of metal lifted from the cryo pit
2:40pm- Front end loader gave it his all. The telehandler didn’t budge.
2:52pm- Telehandler brings in a load of metal to where the Jack hammer has been working
3:02pm- Lifting rig is starting to be attached to the first manifold section
3:23pm- First manifold lifted off of SPMT’s
3:29pm- Manifold sat down on ground
3:30pm- Smaller crane is hooked up to the stand the manifold was on and it is lifted off to the other side
3:35pm- Smaller crane disconnected from stand
3:43pm- Manifold is being lifted again
3:52pm- Lowered onto the stand it was moved on
3:55pm- Lifting straps being disconnected from the first manifold
3:57pm- A Cat excavator is getting ready to show the stuck telehandler who’s boss
4:08pm- Telehandler is free. They made a mess of that berm though. (Don’t pull uphill at shallow angles)
4:14pm- Telehandler drives away.
4:16pm- Lifting straps being connected to second manifold
4:20pm- Top left box. Manifold is lifted slightly and moved off to the side of the SPMT’s. (Can be seen better on Rover 2)
4:53pm- Second manifold lifted, swung over, and set down on stand
5:05pm- LR11000 unhooked from the second manifold
7:21pm- LR11000 gets hooked up to something. Can’t tell if it’s a manifold for sure.
8:29pm- Cryo pit got too chilly and someone had to start a fire to get warm. (There’s flames but no one is freaking out, so I’m assuming they’re intentional)
8:59pm- Police staging at Sanchez for the next roll out
9:05pm- Roll on to the highway, roll on along, Roll on manifold, to your new home, Roll on sheriff, roll on crew, Roll on SPMT’s like we ask you to do, And roll on 96 wheeler, roll on
9:30pm- Manifold arrives
9:52pm- LR11000 has picked up the section it’s been strapped to and backed towards the OLM
10:02pm- Crane rotates piece
10:08pm- Lowered towards the ground still spinning
10:20pm- Sat down on the ground
10:26pm- Forklift brings the stand over for the manifold piece
10:28pm- Manifold lifted back up
10:33pm- Sat back down on stand
10:41pm- Crane appears to be disconnected and there are multiple people on top of the plate
Rover 1-
9:50am- SPMT’s carrying 2 manifold sections rolls towards launch site
21:06- Second rollout of the day passes by
Rover 2-
10:21am- Manifolds come into view
10:25am- Turns into the gate
16:20- Second manifold lifted
16:37- Small crane lifts stand for second manifold off to the side
16:50- SPMT’s leave launch site
16:54- Manifold swung over to the stand
21:28- Third manifold arrives
(This gets synced)