Today I’ll explain to you, what kind of improvements SpaceX has made to Starship Serial Number 9,
what a small test tank can mean for the whole future of the Starship program and why NASA’s SLS core stage was not able to burn its engines for longer than a minute.
My name is Felix, and I am your host for today’s episode of What about it!?
And as always, there’s been a lot going on in the space industry lately, so let’s dive right in!
Starship Updates
So,
SpaceX is in preparations to get Starship Serial Number 9 in the air and to continue the program that draws the attention of the world as SpaceX
is getting ready to fly to the Moon and to Mars.
The SpaceX south Texas construction site has been growing steadily in the past as seen through RGV Aerial Photography’s lens and it all seems
like this will continue for the foreseeable future.
The next part to be added is a chemical plant.
Behind the large construction research and development complex, there’s a small spot that doesn’t look like much right now,
but that is going to change quickly.
This is the spot I am talking about.
A few weeks ago, it was nothing but sand and bushes and by now we can already see the typical SpaceX container wall go up next to the road.
There’s one construction on site that’s particularly interesting.
This black tower here. Erected recently, we’re now going to take a look at what it’s for and what SpaceX’s plan is going forward from here.
For this let’s get back in time.
Just a little bit, as SpaceX as usual is very fast with their progress.
This is the well site on January 1st, so only a little under three weeks ago.
And here we can see that tower, when it was not yet assembled.
So, let’s take a look at what we can identify here.
This is the area, where SpaceX is building that black tower and it most definitely is Cryogenic Oxygen plant.
The long trailer like parts are the main components for the so called cold box, responsible for splitting up the air into separate gases.
With this air separation unit SpaceX will be able to separate air into liquid oxygen, argon and liquid nitrogen.
The plan is to then use most of the liquid nitrogen in a separate heat exchanger to liquify natural gas from the wells,
so SpaceX does want to produce methane here as well.
Purification of the methane will also be done on site using a process called nitrogen rejection in combination with a de-methanizer.
Out comes rocket grade methane for some hungry Raptors down the road.
All of those commodities will then be directly pumped into the tanks at the launch site.
Refilling the fuel farm whenever needed.
As seen through Mary’s camera for NASASpaceflight.com the progress on the ground becomes visible.
It took SpaceX only a few days to build this asset.
What do you think? When will it take over and fuel the next Starship launches?
As always, tell me in the comments!
Our next item of interest is the brand-new Serial Number 7.2 test tank.
It’s been a while since we saw one of those.
In September of last year SpaceX tested Serial Number 7.1, a similar test tank.
The test performed on these tanks normally is referred to as a so-called burst test.
Meaning that SpaceX workers raise the pressure during the tests until it bursts or pops as some call it.
So, what’s new on SN7.2? Why is SpaceX making another test tank?
Don’t they already have complete Starships to test with?
There are two main differences between the old SN7.1 test tank and the new one.
Number one is the steel thickness.
To reduce the overall weight of their Starships in the future, SpaceX is testing 3-millimeter steel sheets.
In comparison to the current 4-millimeter sheets this is a weight reduction of 25%.
And 25% is a lot when it comes to rocket building.
In the end likely only 5 to 10% of the weight reduction will transfer over to the finished Starship due to needed bracing on the hull to still
keep it stable enough, but even that would get SpaceX much closer to their aspirational goal of 150 tons to low Earth orbit.
The next big change compared to the older Serial Number 7.1 test tank is the thrust puck.
That is the piece of hardware directly above the engines on a Starship.
It has to transfer the thrust from the engines to the rest of the Starship and it has to distribute fuel to the engines.
7.2’s Thrust puck has one main difference.
Before the new design only Liquid Oxygen was running directly through the puck and into the engines.
The new puck will also feature lines for methane, reducing complexity and weight even further.
Hopping over to the construction site we have plenty of development as well.
The orbital launch mount is getting more and more complex.
At the launch site Starship Serial Number 9 is still waiting for its grand flight.
After the triple static fire two of the engines have been replaced already and tests are continuing.
Pressure tests and static fires and it should be ready to go.
If you want to know more about the reasons behind the first ever triple static fire on site, make sure to watch Episode 142,
where I explain all the details and take a look at Super Heavy booster catching.
By now also the landing pad, very important for a Starship flight, has seen some proper repairs.
The part that got destroyed by Starship SN8 got cut out and replaced.
The brighter patch is where the damage occurred, and it very much looks like a clean repair job.
Good to go for another landing attempt.
Right next to the repaired landing pad we can see SpaceX’s orbital launch mount grow every day.
As we know by now from the FAA environmental assessment documents , this won’t only be a launch mount, but also a new fuel farm and stacking area.
The launch mount with its six huge pillars has largely been untouched for a few weeks now, but the rest is progressing more and more.
By now we can see Fuel Pipe assembly going on directly on site.
Those will be needed to connect the Launch mount with the planned new fuel farm.
In one of Mary’s recent pictures, we can see the pipes already in position on site and ready for those needed connections.
We can also see lots and lots of concrete pipe channels on site, so all the piping work will be protected and nicely tugged away.
The bunkers directly below the orbital launch mount are progressing as well and my idea is that they might be a fuel line terminal of some sort.
Last but not least we have another area that seems to have been prepared for a later foundation already and we have an area next to it that’s
used to store dirt and construction equipment.
It would be very logical to erect the new fuel farm on the already graded terrain directly below the terminal and have the stacking area next
to it, connected to the ramp that leads up to the pad.
Another logical option would be the area where fuel pipe assembly is going on right now.
It would be right next to the launch mount and could house a crane for stacking purposes.
SpaceX will need this stacking area to be able to transfer prototypes onto the mount and stack them on top of each other.
Meanwhile in SpaceX’s High bay, Starship Serial Number 10 is getting ready for action.
Less and less work is performed on it signaling that it will be ready for the test stand soon.
Earlier this month Mauricio from RGV Aerial Photography made a Photoshop mockup showing two Starships each occupying one test stand at the launch
site and he asked, if we’ll see this in the next few weeks.
Musk answered with a simple yes.
And right now it looks like we’re getting closer to it.
Two Starships side by side. One in preparations for pressure tests and static fires and one getting ready for the next 12.5 kilometer flight.
SpaceX seems to progress extremely fast even though the exact result is not even known.
Working on the fly, adjusting plans quickly to accommodate new knowledge and constantly adapting to new challenges.
SpaceX is charting unknown territory.
Which brings us to the second topic for today.
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NASA SLS Green Run abort.
On Wednesday,
January 17th NASA conducted a so-called Green Run Hot Fire Test at their Stennis test facility in Mississippi and they had to abort it.
Here we are! Stennis Test stand.
The same facility, where Apollo Saturn V hardware was tested before they lifted off towards the Moon.
Today though we have an SLS Core Stage ready to go and under it we have 4 Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 Liquid hydrogen rocket engines known best from
the Shuttle era. Slightly upgraded and made ready for the digital age with new engine controller hardware, these motors are proven equipment.
Roughly 210 tons of thrust each and together with two massive solid boosters also derived from the Shuttle era,
they will be capable of pushing the mighty Space Launch System into orbit and on to the Moon at some point in the future.
This hot fire test was supposed to prove the core stage before being shipped to Kennedy Space Center for the first Artemis launch later this year.
During the burn the engines would have gone through the whole flight profile.
Throttling up to 108% at startup, then throttling back down to 95% and back up to 108 again.
A gimbal program was supposed to run to prove the system was ready for a launch.
And it was supposed to last for 8 minutes straight, simulating a full burn duration on a flight to the Moon.
67 seconds into the flight though engine 4 hit a problem and reported a so-called FID through its engine controller.
That stands for Failure Identification.
A bright flash was also reported coming from the thermal protection blanket surrounding the engines gimbal system.
It’s not visible on the recording but this is where it came from.
Shortly after that the engine reported a so called MCF or Major Component Failure which correctly led the core stage controller to make the decision
to shut down all the engines. So, a fully automated process and it made the right decision in fractions of a second.
The vehicle remained undamaged.
The importance of this test for the Arttemis program can not be overstated.
This hot fire test was supposed to validate the core for that first Artemis flight to send an unmanned Orion capsule around the Moon and back to Earth later this year.
Bridenstine said at a press conference after the test was conducted, that NASA will have to determine if a flight is possible later this year.
We might be looking at delays again for the SLS program.
NASA and all the big companies associated with the program can not move as fast as others.
To simply make another hot fire test possible, even if no engines would need to be replaced,
NASA would need 4 to 5 days to replenish the fuel farm and another 21 to 30 days to perform all the checkups needed to light the RS-25 engines again.
Surprisingly though Bridenstine also said that another test might not even be needed and that this 67 second run might in the end be enough
data to proceed. If not though and if NASA needs another hot fire this might very well push a first Artemis launch into 2022.
After all this is prototyping and NASA and Jim Bridenstine emphasized this again and again after the test had concluded.
Any data gained will help the project continue further.
On the other hand, questions about an over budget and delayed rocket system will surface again.
Seeing SpaceX develop their next gen super heavy lifter in Boca Chica at the same time certainly doesn’t make the job easier for NASA.
Thanks to the team with the X things have changed.
The world has seen that development even of radically new features can be done at low cost and in quick succession.
This certainly isn’t an easy environment for a rocket with components that have been in development for 60 and in use for almost 40 years now.
I’ll keep you updated on NASA’s plans and on further developments.
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