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
Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45 | Starship Dev 44 | Starship Dev 43
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 2023-07-10
Vehicle Status
As of June 13th 2023
Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.
| Ship | Location | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-S24 | Scrapped or Retired | SN15 and S20 are in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped. | |
| S24 | In pieces in the ocean | Destroyed | April 20th: Destroyed when booster MECO and ship stage separation from booster failed three minutes and 59 seconds after successful launch, so FTS was activated. This was the second launch attempt. |
| S25 | Launch Site | Testing | On Feb 23rd moved back to build site, then on the 25th taken to the Massey’s test site. March 21st: Cryo test. May 5th: Another cryo test. May 18th: Moved to the Launch Site and in the afternoon lifted onto Suborbital Test Stand B. |
| S26 | Rocket Garden | Resting | No fins or heat shield, plus other changes. March 25th: Lifted onto the new higher stand in Rocket Garden. March 28th: First RVac installed (number 205). March 29th: RVac number 212 taken over to S26 and later in the day the third RVac (number 202) was taken over to S26 for installation. March 31st: First Raptor Center installed (note that S26 is the first Ship with electric Thrust Vector Control). April 1st: Two more Raptor Centers moved over to S26. |
| S27 | Rocket Garden | Completed but no Raptors yet | Like S26, no fins or heat shield. April 24th: Moved to the Rocket Garden. |
| S28 | High Bay 1 | Under construction | February 7th Assorted parts spotted. March 24th: Mid LOX barrel taken into High Bay 1. March 28th: Existing stack placed onto Mid LOX barrel. March 31st: Almost completed stack lifted off turntable. April 5th: Aft/Thrust section taken into High Bay 1. April 6th: the already stacked main body of the ship has been placed onto the thrust section, giving a fully stacked ship. April 25th: Lifted off the welding turntable, then the ‘squid’ detached - it was then connected up to a new type of lifting attachment which connects to the two lifting points below the forward flaps that are used by the chopsticks. May 25th: Installation of the first Aft Flap (interesting note: the Aft Flaps for S28 are from the scrapped S22). |
| S29 | High Bay 1 | Under construction | April 28th: Nosecone and Payload Bay taken inside High Bay 1 (interesting note: the Forward Flaps are from the scrapped S22). May 1st: nosecone stacked onto payload bay (note that S29 is being stacked on the new welding turntable to the left of center inside High Bay 1, this means that LabPadre’s Sentinel Cam can’t see it and so NSF’s cam looking at the build site is the only one with a view when it’s on the turntable). May 4th: Sleeved Forward Dome moved into High Bay 1 and placed on the welding turntable. May 5th: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack placed onto Sleeved Forward Dome and welded. May 10th: Nosecone stack hooked up to new lifting rig instead of the ‘Squid’ (the new rig attaches to the Chopstick’s lifting points and the leeward Squid hooks). May 11th: Sleeved Common Dome moved into High Bay 1. May 16th: Nosecone stack placed onto Sleeved Common Dome and welded. May 18th: Mid LOX section moved inside High Bay 1. May 19th: Current stack placed onto Mid LOX section for welding. June 2nd: Aft/Thrust section moved into High Bay 1. June 6th: The already stacked main body of the ship has been placed onto the thrust section, giving a fully stacked ship. |
| S30+ | Build Site | Parts under construction | Assorted parts spotted through S34. |
| Booster | Location | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-B7 & B8 | Scrapped or Retired | B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped. | |
| B7 | In pieces in the ocean | Destroyed | April 20th: Destroyed when MECO and stage separation of ship from booster failed three minutes and 59 seconds after successful launch, so FTS was activated. This was the second launch attempt. |
| B9 | High Bay 2 | Raptor Install | Cryo testing (methane and oxygen) on Dec. 21 and Dec. 29. Rollback on Jan. 10. On March 7th Raptors started to be taken into High Bay 2 for B9. |
| B10 | Rocket Garden | Resting | 20-ring LOX tank inside High Bay 2 and Methane tank (with grid fins installed) in the ring yard. March 18th: Methane tank moved from the ring yard and into High Bay 2 for final stacking onto the LOX tank. March 22nd: Methane tank stacked onto LOX tank, resulting in a fully stacked booster. May 27th: Moved to the Rocket Garden. Note: even though it appears to be complete it currently has no Raptors. |
| B11 | High Bay 2 | Under construction | March 24th: ‘A3’ barrel had the current 8-ring LOX tank stacked onto it. March 30th: ‘A4’ 4-ring LOX tank barrel taken inside High Bay 2 and stacked. April 2nd: ‘A5’ 4-ring barrel taken inside High Bay 2. April 4th: First methane tank 3-ring barrel parked outside High Bay 2 - this is probably F2. April 7th: downcomer installed in LOX tank (which is almost fully stacked except for the thrust section). April 28th: Aft section finally taken inside High Bay 2 to have the rest of the LOX tank welded to it (which will complete the LOX tank stack). May 11th: Methane tank Forward section and the next barrel down taken into High Bay 2 and stacked. May 18th: Methane tank stacked onto another 3 ring next barrel, making it 9 rings tall out of 13. May 20th: Methane tank section stacked onto the final barrel, meaning that the Methane tank is now fully stacked. May 23rd: Started to install the grid fins. June 3rd: Methane Tank stacked onto LOX Tank, meaning that B11 is now fully stacked. Once welded still more work to be done such as the remaining plumbing and wiring. |
| B12 | High Bay 2 (LOX Tank) | Under construction | June 3rd: LOX tank commences construction: Common Dome (CX:4) and a 4-ring barrel (A2:4) taken inside High Bay 2 where CX:4 was stacked onto A2:4 on the right side welding turntable. June 7th: A 4-ring barrel (A3:4) was taken inside High Bay 2. June 8th: Barrel section A3:4 was lifted onto the welding turntable and the existing stack placed on it for welding. June 9th: The next 4-ring barrel (A4:4) was taken inside High Bay 2, later in the day the incomplete LOX tank stack was hooked up to it and placed on the welding turntable for stacking and welding. June 13th: The next 4-ring barrel (A5:4) was taken inside High Bay 2, later in the day the incomplete LOX tank stack was hooked up to it and placed on the welding turntable for stacking and welding. The next and final stacking for the LOX tank will be the aft/thrust section. |
| B13+ | Build Site | Parts under construction | Assorted parts spotted through B17. |
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
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Not sure what to make of this crazy contraption: https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1678949709661065217?s=46&t=Mj914Aam14loAYQOISZ9zQ
Huh, the tweet seems to be visible even without a login? If not, the underlying image is https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0zTpR6XwAAnVvl?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
The tweet says
Chris Bergin - NSF @NASASpaceflight 9:09 PM - Jul 11, 2023
Say hello to S24.2 at Starbase. You’re interesting!
Photo by Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) for NSF.
I think the naming convention of Snumber.number or Bnumber.number is for a test tank or other test subassembly.
One suggestion is that it’s a test of the lunar Human Landing System. S normally means it’s on Starship, and maybe the reinforced holes at the top of the tank are the landing thrusters, or the openings for the thrusters.
There’s also the suggestion that it’s a hot staging ring, but it was objected elsewhere that that would be on top of a booster, not in a Starship.
Another suggestion is that it’s a “Frankenbarrel”, combining two tests.
A dome above a payload door…???
It must be a test article. But what kind of tests?
I’d hazard a guess at in-orbit refuelling mechanism(s)
Perhaps. What would the holes around the dome be for? And why would there be a pez dispenser? What role would such a slot in the fuel tank serve?
A tweet from Jack Beyer @thejackbeyer with a close-in picture (from the state park?) of the Orbital launch mount.
4:13 PM - Jul 14, 2023 ‘Just got shooed out of the dunes by a drone with a speaker on it because im “in the blast danger area for today’s test”. That’s a first. [emojus] @NASASpaceflight’
Edit: video here, visible to me even in incognito mode.
The Booster Bidet got its first test. Looks like a lot of pressurized gas spewed out for about 40 seconds. The video can be seen on Twitter even without being logged in (currently) here. The video is from LabPadre, shown in a tweet by Zack Golden @CSI_Starbase 7:40 PM - Jul 12, 2023:
Much better angle of the purge test. This is a pretty intense amount of force that will be pushing out the water through steel blast surface!
Audio has been synced with @LabPadre Rover 2.0 camera.
Later,
This was no accident. Its a purging of the high pressure gas system
Wow! And Zack later theorized that this is not even close to a full strength test. This system is wild.
I didn’t know we had these threads on here!
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase Live-
(Tornado= Raptor QD Spin up test)
11:21:21pm- Tornado
11:35pm- Small (No tornado)
11:40:45pm- Tornado
11:55:13pm- Small (No tornado)
12:08:19am- Tornado
12:31:14am- Tornado
1:01:04am- Tornado
1:16:54am- Small (No tornado)
1:19:37am- Tornado
1:52:47am- Tornado
1:55am- Depress vent?
3:56am- Workers back at pad
8:50am- Crane lifts a bunch of boards out from beside the OLM
9:15am- Basket goes up. Center
9:33am- Crane lifts something with a lot of cables hanging off of it
5:25pm- Lots of people working on top of the OLM but the cranes and lifts have been silent today
6:00pm- Intermittent closure starts. NSF in SBL chat says that Jack is reporting sheriffs at the launch site. So maybe more testing instead of something moving?
6:20pm- Pope stack is venting (Going back and looking, I’m pretty sure it was just the pope stack and not the OLM like people were saying)
7:00pm- Seems like a full test/purge of the cryo lines
7:08pm- Can’t tell if that’s the new purge line or if there is just a massive leak
7:20pm- Launch site cloaking device engaged
7:29:10- People were reporting a bang. I can hear a slight pop but NSF’s mic is so far away that I don’t know if I’d put much faith in it being anything.
7:30pm- Venting seems to be letting up some
7:34pm- Pope stack is going again
8:00pm- Still venting. Seems to die off some and then pick back up
8:30:42- Sounds like a cell phone ringing. So I think you have to discount all of the bangs and pops
9:28:53- Drone comes out of lox cloud
10:36pm- Really starting to die off. Tank finally getting empty?
10:53pm- Down to a trickle at the beach but still a significant cloud by the actual tanks
11:16pm- Vent still going but small enough for people to return to the pad and people to leave the beach
Rover 2-
20:43:40- Something is definitely wrong. 4 person red team shows up in 2 carts and makes their plans on how they are going to punch thru and get to the big lox tank and spin the shutoff valve. Stick together and get out if the monitor goes off. The banging and popping sounds like a warning klaxon on here.
21:08- One guy walks out and a pick up shows up
21:10- Pick up leaves the pad
21:12- 2 more guys walk out on their cell phones
21:32- 47 minutes later, I’m going to guess they couldn’t get the valve to shut.
21:51- Lots of honking. It seems people are trapped on the beach.
21:54- Lab switches R2’s feed to R3 and we lose the microphone
(This gets synced)
An unusual test object (?) has caused some discussion, it seems, like in https://lemmy.world/comment/1154582 from @LettuceTurnipTheBeet@lemm.ee
The Ringwatchers @Ringwatchers had a long thread today analyzing the situation. threadreaderapp unroll here.. Their TL;DR: “Ship 24.2 will be a 7-ring tall article composed of 3 main sections: a top ring with a dome and 24 external attachment points, a Ship Payload Bay that features a PEZ dispenser rack, and a bottom ring with a hatch in the side.”, designed nicely to fit into the nosecone cage / can crusher, and the nosecone cage structure has been modified to fit it.
I think this was what was mentioned in the “New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:” thread just a bit ago, around “7:00pm”.
Zack Golden @CSI_Starbase tweeted at 7:54 PM - Jul 15, 2023:
Pretty massive liquid nitrogen or liquid oxygen dump going on. Tough to tell which it is.
I can’t remember ever seeing this occur before outside of a testing event.
Initially thought this was some sort of clean out process but the volume appears to be a bit excessive for that.
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase live-
12:36am- Lift goes up to the stabilizer arm again
12:47am- Lift goes down
1:26am- Lift back up at the draw works shed. Sparks flying
2:02am- Lift go up to S25
2:43am- Lift at S25 goes down
3:47am- Lift at the draw works goes down. About half done.
5:20am- Pump truck folds up. Pour done
6:54am- Lift back up at the draw works shed
8:08am- Lift goes back down. About 3/4 done.
8:11am- New medium lift crane arrives at the right side of OLM
8:18am- Lift back up at S25 and right back down after a few minutes
8:53am- Piece of equipment lifted to the top of the OLM. (Blue, boxed shape, not quite sure what it was)
9:06am- Lift goes back up to the draw works
9:13am- Another piece of equipment is lifted to the bottom of the Cryo pipe leg.
9:47am- 2 lifts go up to S25
9:55am- Small rectangular piece of metal lifted to the top of the OLM
10:14am- Piece of metal that was just lifted is removed
10:21am- Lift at the draw works goes down
10:31am- Lift goes back up
10:32am- Piece of metal goes back up. Needed some fine tuning?
10:41am- Similar shaped piece gets lifted up
10:55am- 3rd piece of metal goes up
11:15am- Piece of pipe lifted up to the new door
11:34am- Another piece of pipe goes up
11:42am- Lifts go down at S25
11:58am- Lift at the draw works goes down
12:16pm- Lift goes back up at S25
1:16pm- Lift goes back up to the draw works shed
3:30pm- Short piece of metal beam lifted to the top of the OLM.
3:57pm- Basket goes up to the new door
4:05pm- Basket goes down
4:41pm- Lift at the draw works shed goes down. Looks like all of the damaged siding is now removed. (Took a total of 9 hours and 44 minutes to remove it)
5:26pm- Forklift lowers sheet of metal into the deluge feed pipe pit
7:24pm- Purge of the deluge pressure system
8:03pm- Lifts at S25 have gone down
8:04pm- Next mega bay section and booster stand are on the move
8:19pm- Cop at the roadblock? Stopped traffic long enough for the booster stand to move down Hwy 4 and turn on Eichorn
8:37pm- Booster stand went over for storage by the raptor install stand
8:47pm- Lifts go back up to S25
(This gets synced)
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase Live-
11:50pm- Lift goes up to chopsticks. Work continues on the stabilizer arms
1:23am- Blue box looking piece of equipment that was lifted to the top of OLM yesterday is brought back down
2:33am- Concrete pump truck goes up and extends between OLM and OLT
3:28am- Tarp goes up at the draw works shed. Sparks fly. It looks like some of the cross beams are being removed
8:15am- The boom on the concrete pumper has not moved since it was set up
8:36am- Big section of black tarp set up at the base of the OLM
9:01am-Boom on the concrete pumper retracts some
9:36am- Zoom in on the end of the pump truck boom shows it in the deluge pipe pit
10:10am- Pumper truck retracts
10:16am- Workers back up at the damaged water tank shell. Yeah the tank doesn’t exactly sit flush with the straight edge they hold up
10:28am- Pumper truck extends back out
10:35am- Basket goes up too top left side
12:34pm- Pump boom is all the way over by the 3rd manifold. They may be finishing up the concrete under the OLM.
12:50pm- Back up working on the stabilizer arms
1:50pm- Pump truck folds up
2:10pm- New crossbeam is being risen to the draw works shed
3:02pm- You can see all 3 access hatches on S25 have been opened
4:09pm-Zoomed in shot shows that the concrete is up to the top of the wooden forms around the OLM
4:25pm- It looks like they may have back filled over the deluge feed pipes and now they’re just trying to work on the correct grade
4:57pm- Forklift brings in what looks like a giant toy top to a work station set up by the OLT
5:32pm- Forklift removes some large hoses from same work station
6:11pm- Forklift lifts a circular hatch. Moves it to the other side of the OLT
6:35pm- 3 lifts up at the access hatch to S25’s methane tank
7:30pm- Upper cross brace removed from the draw works shed
7:53pm- Cutting torch comes out at the shed
8:58pm- Sparks flying, welders welding. Slow day for cranes and lifts but no doubt lots of work is still getting done.
(This gets synced)
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase live-
12:48am- Concrete pump truck goes up to right of OLM. Looks like they may be finally pouring that little pad off to the side
4:14am- Basket comes down
4:37am- Crane lowers and leaves from in front of OLM
4:45am- Forklift brings in some kind of united rentals equipment
4:55am- Pick up backs in a giant generator in front of OLM
5:06am- Forklift brings in another united rentals piece of equipment
5:15am- Crane comes back. Looks it just left to make room for the deliveries
7:50am- SPMT headed to the launch site
7:58am- 3rd segment of the 4th floor of the new mega bay lifted
8:20am- Pump truck folding up, concrete truck is backed up to the OLM though so pour continues, Grover removing it’s counterweights (so that’s what the SPMT was for)
8:56am- New crossbeam test fitted at the draw works shed
8:58am- Concrete truck is gone, looks like the pour is over
9:03am- Crossbeam installed
9:11am- Pump truck goes up around the deluge tank farm (can be seen much clearer on Rover 2)
9:24am- More concrete trucks arriving, go to the pump truck
10:13am- Equipment lifted off of the OLM
10:19am- New upper crossbeam installed on the draw works shed
10:27am- Another pump truck goes up between the OLM and OLT
11:00am- Lifts are up at the oxygen and methane tank access hatches of S25
11:51am- Pump truck between OLM and OLT folds up
1:46pm- Crane lifts triangular object to top of OLM
1:54pm- Crane lifts section of pipe to top of OLM
2:04pm- Pump truck at the backside of the OLT goes down
2:30pm- Pad seems to be clearing
2:41pm- BQD hood opens (We are 40 minutes into the intermittent closure)
2:48pm- BQD hood closes
2:54pm- BQD hood opens again
3:01pm- BQD hood closes (Did they clear the OLM area just for hood tests?)
3:37pm- Quick check of Rover 1 shows test tank 24.2 sitting quietly with no SPMT’s in sight. Doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere during this closure
4:13pm- Tweet from Jack- Just got shooed out of the dunes by a drone with a speaker on it because im “in the blast danger area for today’s test”. That’s a first. 🤔 @NASASpaceflight
4:18pm- Still 2 lifts up at S25’s methane tank. Waiting on them to get done?
4:51pm- Drone
5:03pm- Last lift at S25 is going down
5:21pm- Purge of the new water line at the OTF?
6:20pm- Venting sounds but lifts are back up at S25
8:01pm- People back at the OLM and lift at the stabilizer arm on the right chopstick
(This gets synced)
NASASpaceflight video of OLM Deluge plate installation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PXHqOErvs
New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:
Starbase live-
11:50pm- Lift that had been up at the chopsticks goes down
11:56pm- Lift goes back up to the chopsticks
12:00am- Lift goes back down
1:48am- Lift goes back up to the chopsticks
4:11am- Lift goes back down
6:29am- Basket up top of OLM
6:45am- 2nd segment of the 4th level of the new high bay lifted
7:01am- Basket down
7:30am- Basket up to the door at the top of the new stairs
7:31am- Large L shaped metal object (I think it’s a small diameter pipe) lowered into the pit
7:40am- Basket down
7:50am- Basket up top of OLM
8:19am- 2 lifts go up to the side of S25
8:33am- Basket down
8:53am- Basket up to the door
9:26am- Basket goes down
11:03am- Large L shape pipe that was lowered earlier is repositioned
11:55am- Lift goes back up to the chopsticks
12:21pm- Zoom in on the crew working on the chopsticks. Seem to be working on the hydraulics for the stabilizer arm
12:34pm- Looks like they removed the hydraulic ram
12:44pm- Lift moves over to the other side of the stabilizer arm
1:05pm- Lifts go down at S25. Access hatch is open and vent tube installed
2:25pm- Lift back up at S25
3:38pm- Square piece of metal lifted to the top of the OLM
4:35pm- Concrete pump truck seen in background. Checked Nerdle cam and it looks like it was pouring around the high pressure tanks for the deluge earlier and now it’s over by the old landing pad.
4:40pm- Another piece of metal lifted to the top of the OLM
5:33pm- Pumper truck folds up to leave
6:12pm- Lift goes up to top of chopsticks
6:33pm- 2nd lift goes up to the stabilizer arm
6:46pm- First lift goes down
7:03pm- 1 of the lifts at S25 goes down
7:07pm- Lift at the stabilizer arm goes down. No sign of a new hydraulic piston
7:16pm- Both lifts go back up
7:25pm- Top lift goes back down. Looks like they are just inspecting
7:51pm- Lift at the stabilizer arm goes down. Was working in the piston area but SBL zoomed out and went on a tour
9:18pm- Lift goes up to the side of the drawworks shed. Whoever was hoping that they would replace the shielding soon might be in luck.
10:03pm- Lift at the drawworks goes down. There was definitely sparks flying like they were starting to cut something.
10:46pm- Lift was back at the drawworks shed. Looks like they tried a different method of cutting and then went back down
11:00pm- Concrete pump truck arrives at the right side of the cryo pipe pit. Time to finally pour it’s lid?
11:05pm- Pump unfolds
12:07pm- First concrete truck is at the pump and the arm folds out towards the far side of the cryo pipe trench. The lid it is.
(This gets synced)
Have we seen any sign that B9 has been/is being modified with the additional hot-stage ring and the new FTS ? Right now, so me this seens to be the long pole, more than the OLM.
Musk has said that he expected approval of a new FTS to be the long pole.
Yeah, there is approval. But I’m more talking about the retrofitting, which doesn’t even seem to have started.
Tweets from Elon Musk @elonmusk.
7:51 PM - Jul 9, 2023: “3 more engines for the meaning of life.” Meaning 42 Raptor engines total for Super Heavy and Starship together. It’s with an upskirt photo of a Starship, though with 6 engines. I can’t quickly find an authoritative statement of the configuration, but since 2021, it seems that people have been stating 3 sea-level gimballing engines in the center, and 6 Rvacs (vacuum Raptors) inside the circumference (so one added between each existing pair of RVacs for a hex array). Everyday Astronaut tweeted a reply at 8:57 PM - Jul 9, 2023, “So 33 on booster, 9 on ship. Which will be the first 6 X Vac ship?”, so he seems to be thinking 6 RVacs.
The Ringwatchers @Ringwatchers have a 10-tweet thread (via threadreaderapp) analyzing it. They see a Hydraulic Power Unit: they say that, since S26 on and B9 on have the electric Thrust Vector Control system, this has to be a picture of S25. The engine shielding has been removed – for inspections? for redesign? The COPVs have been removed too. There are other details, like the interior camera, the static firing stiffeners on the RVac (vacuum Raptor) engine bells to prevent damage from sea-level flow separation, et cetera.
Two Elon tweets in sequence:
- 12:35 AM - Jul 10, 2023 “Looks like we can increase Raptor thrust by ~20% to reach 9000 tons (20 million lbs) of force at sea level”
- 12:43 AM - Jul 10, 2023 “And deliver over 200 tons of payload to a useful orbit with full & rapid reusability. 50 rockets flying every 3 days on average enables over a megaton of payload to orbit per year – enough to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.”
Edit for the record: Zack Golden @CSI_Starbase tweet on Jul 9 this picture. It showed Starship’s config as mentioned above. But the 3 center gimballing sea-level engines are lined up with 3 of the 6 RVacs on the rim, which I think would slightly reduce their range of motion.
Musk replied 10:29 PM - Jul 9, 2023
Inner engine gimbal angle is limited in some directions, due to impacting outer engine nozzle, but probably ok
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters COPV Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel FTS Flight Termination System OLM Orbital Launch Mount QD Quick-Disconnect SPMT Self-Propelled Mobile Transporter Jargon Definition Raptor Methane-fueled rocket engine under development by SpaceX
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