On this week's star base update we have the standard work continues on the
orbital launch mount. In addition to Raptor updates,
a flyover and probably the biggest news to come out of star base in the past,
well, since the flight,
which Starship and Booster combo are up next for the next integrated test
flight, according to Elon coming soon.
Let's start this week off with a little bit of infrastructure. As you can see,
SpaceX has been working on a new mega bay.
It's kind of crazy to think that there's going to be two of those sitting over
there within a short amount of time because SpaceX is working really hard on
this next mega bay,
we can see all of the bones being assembled at the Sanchez site,
which is right next to the production site as they assemble the inner guts and
they will add cladding on the outside and then transport it to the foundation to
finally stack it on the mega bay.
We also see the big crane that they're going to use for the new mega Bay in a
very beginning stages of assembly,
which will likely be used to lift the big chunks of the mega Bay onto the chunks
underneath it.
The new mega Bay isn't the only mega bay at Star Base that's getting some
attention this week.
The old Mega Bay or the existing Mega Bay is getting a little bit of scaffolding
removed in addition to new glass panels being added. Now,
whether or not this space is going to be used for,
I don't an office space or a rager party that's yet to be found out,
but we will be watching very closely what parties they throw up there because
let's be real, who doesn't want to throw a party on top of a rocket factory?
I don't want to bury the lead because this is the biggest news we've seen in
about a month.
SpaceX has confirmed officially that Ship 25 and Booster nine are up next for
the next integrated test flight integrated test flight two.
Please don't nuke the pad. That's the official movie title.
I'm sticking with it. While Ship 25 and Booster nine are a little old,
even by SpaceX's standards,
we can tell definitively that these are the most ready vehicles,
not just because SpaceX has told us that they're most ready vehicles,
but because we've seen them do a lot of cryo testing,
both Booster nine and Ship 25 have completed almost all of their cryo testing
campaigns and pretty much are ready for static fires.
I wouldn't be shocked if Ship 25 sneaks into static fire here sometime soon.
The reason why we haven't seen a static fire on Ship 25,
even though it is on a suborbital pad seemingly pretty much ready to go is
because they're probably prioritizing work continues on the orbital launch mount
as they continue to fix the little crater that they made and get ready for the
next flight.
You don't want to get all of your critical path employees off on a vacation day
as they do a static fire test of the Starship,
meaning that you need to clear out the whole pad.
SpaceX would likely want to make sure that all of the critical path employees a
K, the O L M employees are hard at work every day, making sure that the O L M,
it will be ready for the next orbital test flight.
And while we're talking about the important critical work happening at the pad,
let's talk about the QD arm.
The extension arm on the QD on maxilla did get removed.
We're not really sure if this is just to refurbish it or a new design is in
play, but either way,
I don't think they're going to be getting rid of that critical part anytime
soon.
Seeing how their entire vehicle architecture is designed around having a ship QD
arm at that height and at the O L M,
we have a lot of foundation work taking place that's not directly under the O L
M.
We've seen a lot of these piling drivers at the production site as they create
the foundations for the megabase structures,
and they're doing it at the launchpad.
This is likely for the water deluge system,
these big tanks and all of the associated plumbing that is going to be required
to force as much water as a rafter shoots out to just
yeah. Also at the launchpad, we've seen SpaceX dig a lot of foundation pilings.
These foundation pilings are very similar to the ones that we've seen at the
both of the Mega Bay construction sites.
They are a large piece of concrete and steel that is drilled deep, deep,
deep down into the sand because everything's so sandy and the water table is so
low here at SpaceX's Star Base, Boca Chica facility.
As work continues on the orbital launch,
Mount Elon has publicly said that it is going well.
Elon has said that within about a month,
we should see the completion of the orbital launch mount repairs and then
another month of booster and ship static fires to certify both booster nine and
ship 25 for the next integrated flight test.
Whether or not those dates will stick, who knows. This is all Elon time,
but we'll be watching very closely. Now, whether or not this late July,
early August timeframe is really going to stick. I don't know. You don't know.
They don't know. Nobody knows,
but you should be watching Star Base live because we have 24 7 coverage of
everything that they're doing right here.
More steel reinforcement for deep foundation went into the ground as SpaceX also
has to repair the concrete damage and foundation damage.
Also awaiting installation of a new steel plate that will protect the ground
against the Raptors. Speaking of raptors,
Elon confirmed recently that Star ship's thrust was upgraded.
33 Raptors now provide 6,000 tons of thrust altogether.
That's a whopping 20% upgrade over Massey's.
SpaceX is not just sitting around waiting for stuff to happen at the o m.
They're getting on their own stuff.
In addition to the explosive FTS test that we did see last week,
SpaceX has also conducted two cryo tests on the test tank that have lasted
over several hours. Ship 25 has its hatch open,
and you can see SpaceX has those air ventilation tubes going in and out so that
SpaceX can properly ventilate the space that employees will be working in. Now,
SpaceX can't do a static fire test on Ship 25 with all of this stuff attached,
so we would assume before they do a static fire test,
they'll button up them hatches and take down all of those stuff just like they
have with literally every other Starship test that we've ever seen in the High
Bay Ship.
29 rotating means that SpaceX is using all of those welding equipment that
I've talked about in the past somewhat incorrectly to get all of the welds
around the base of the rocket.
The booster quick disconnect cover is just rusting away at the production site.
S SpaceX unceremoniously removed it from the orbital launch mount.
The reason why they removed it was likely to gain better access to the enrage of
the quick disconnect for the booster as they probably have to repair a few
things.
The quick disconnect hood is just sitting next to the starlink building at the
suborbital Tank Farm.
We can see this vent from the normal maintenance vent indicating that there are
indeed cryogenic fluids somewhere in the suborbital tank farm.
Whether or not this is fuel ready for the next ship, static fire, I don't know,
but it's there. Now that we've hit the middle of the video,
we can do an ad slot. This video is sponsored by NASA Space Light.
Wait a minute, what not An educational website or a finance app, what is this?
It's madness. Utter madness. How is this possible? Well,
we have a metal print store and we've had a ton of images in that metal print
store over the past urine change since we've been running it.
These are amazing pictures that are some of my best work and some of the best
work of all of the other photographers here at NASA Space Flight.
We have so many images coming in that we looked at the website and I'm like,
oh boy. We need to clear out some of the junk.
So what we're doing between now and June 11th,
we're running a last chance sale on some of your favorite prints.
My ignition image from the 33 engine or 31 engine static fire of Booster
seven is up on the chopping block.
Reflecting on the future from August of 2022 is also ready to be cut.
Actually,
I have this one hanging in my bathroom at home and from dust to thrust,
one of booster seven's static fires with only one engine is also up
for the chopping block, so get them before they're gone forever.
These are really amazing prints, which are super high quality. They look great.
They feel amazing, and the packaging is really cool.
They mount to the wall with this cool little dovetail thing.
I got like 10 of them at my house. Now, maybe I'm biased,
but they're pretty good pictures, but more importantly,
they're really good prints and you should check out the a NASA space flight
metal print shop to get York favorite prints before they're gone. All right,
back to the episode.
Let's take you to 10,500 feet above ground level
over the launchpad where we can see SpaceX working on the O L M.
I did a flyover the other day and we can see very clearly that that hole
underneath the orbital launch mount that we all saw is gone.
It has been filled in. However,
there is still foundation work happening around the edges. As you can see here,
SpaceX is still using that piling driver to drill out new foundations a closer
view behind the tents and the windbreak reveal the fact that SpaceX looks like
they're getting ready to completely level this area and turn it into a large
portion of the star factory. That big monolithic building,
which will look so sleek and beautiful and have real rolls of steel roll on one
side and ships roll out the other. It'll be a beautiful thing when it's,
but SpaceX needs the floor space at the production site,
so they're likely going to be scrapping some of these buildings in the future.
You can also see several down comer pipes sitting around the tents looking at
the front yard of the production site.
We can see lots and lots and lots of rings.
These are for boosters and ships and many different parts for each one.
There's some areas there that are labeled with ring sections for positioning,
but more importantly,
we're seeing the big crane that will be finishing the build of the new mega bay
just sitting on the ground sleeping.
You can also see here the foundation of the mega bay where the walls are going
up. This is the great foundation made by those pilings is talking about just a
minute ago, ship 25 is sitting on the subpar launch pad, getting some work,
work by those crew lifts as it was awaiting its flight. Yay.
We finally know. Also,
it looks like there are now some berms to protect the orbital launch mount from
any static fires and probably the suborbital pad from another flight,
and here's a view of Ship 28 with its lower flaps installed,
receiving area parts going bit by bit and ship 29 right next to it.
Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's star base update. Then Nick,
I'm going to go find some air conditioning because it's like 91 degrees right
now. In May.