So, more engines and even taller Starships are confirmed.
And we saw Super Heavy booster cryo tests.
SpaceX fighting for flight readiness and orbital launches.
All that while they’re working on two Starship Launch Pads at Kennedy Space Center?
Let’s do this!
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 many things have happened again this past week regarding SpaceX’s Starship development program.
Let's start this one, maybe with the most critical change.
Ship is being upgraded to 9 engines with 3 sea-level gimbaling and 6 fixed vacuum engines up from 3 with increased propellant load.
So, what? SpaceX is creating even larger and even more powerful Starships?
There are already some depictions out there of Starship engine sections with 6 vacuum raptors,
and the new setup would easily fit within the 9-meter diameter of a Starship.
So, SpaceX is upping the thrust considerably from 3 to 6 engines.
This, of course, means that the payload capability of Starships will be higher than planned.
The increased propellant load would, of course, mean that the tanks are about to grow larger.
Owe was busy for WAI creating a comparison of an estimated Stretch-Starship.
4 more rings are added in this comparison for the new and taller Starship.
It's unclear how much larger it will be in the end and if the fairing section is going to grow as well, but after this design change,
Starships would stand even taller than before.
A Starship ring segment has a diameter of 9 meters and is around 1.8 meters tall.
Adding 4 more ring segments would result in an increased height of 7.2 meters.
Right now, a Starship is roughly 50 meters tall,
so we’re looking at 57.2 meters for this concept and a total height for a full stack of 126.2 meters.
The tallest rocket in human history is growing even larger.
This is getting out of hand! Musk has also confirmed my theory of Booster 5 being retired.
He wrote in the same tweet that the next booster will have 33 Raptor v2 engines with 13 steering.
If you’ve followed my channel closely,
I did speculate that booster 5 would be retired because of SpaceX’s planned switch to the updated v2 Raptor engine.
That SpaceX wouldn’t gain much from launching a v1 Raptor Super Heavy booster.
Since booster 5 is equipped for v1 Raptors and can’t just be refitted, it’s out of the race.
The next one will likely be booster 7 as of now.
It can run 33 engines, and it’s the next one in the pipeline.
Next up, let's take a look at Ship 20.
To be precise, let’s take a look at its nose cone, which recently was the cause for many debates on Twitter.
SpaceX has removed the hardpoints on the top of the nose and sealed the holes with tiles.
First, they added a metal piece into the hole with the typical tile mounting pins, and then they added the tiles on top.
The discussion within the community now is all about how SpaceX will be able to lift the Starship up again.
After all, it's sitting on a suborbital pad.
The Chopsticks from the orbital launch site can't reach it.
With the top hardpoints gone,
people immediately started speculating if SpaceX would come up with a way to lift the Starship up by its Mechazilla catching hardpoints.
There’s one option, though, that needs to be considered too.
The hardpoints are removable. So, SpaceX can also add them back to the top again.
These nose hardpoints are essential for SpaceX’s ground handling processes.
Designing them to be removed and added again is a must.
Even later on, when they're in regular operation,
SpaceX might want to add them again if a Starship needs to go through maintenance inside a high bay after a few flights.
So, this might just be a test fit.
SpaceX wants to train the personnel.
And this basically is the last chance to do it before the Starships gets stacked on top of Booster 4,
which would position the hardpoints uncomfortably high for a task that's not been trained before.
And because Musk was very busy on Twitter, we also know that Booster 4 and Ship 20 are still on track for an orbital flight.
The rumors are wrong. Flight readiness is all it’s about right now.
Busy, busy, busy. If it feels like I am running through different topics here like crazy, it’s because SpaceX never sleeps.
4 shifts. 24 7. What you're looking at here is Super Heavy Booster 4 on the orbital launch mount at SpaceX's Starbase.
To be precise, it's the first Cryo test to be done on the orbital launch mount ever.
Chief got in position and filmed the whole ordeal for us.
Leave him a comment and say thanks.
He deserves it. It was just a tiny test as a careful beginning.
The lower oxygen tank got pressurized for stabilization reasons.
Then SpaceX proceeded with filling the upper methane tank with cryogenic nitrogen.
Ice started forming on the outside, and the pad really became alive for the first time.
The orbital fuel farm was used for this test.
Many systems that were never tested like this before performed well.
Overall it was a joy to watch, and it very much looks like booster 4 passed this first milestone without visible problems.
Next up in line would be static fires, and once those are done, SpaceX should be ready for the flight.
And just to give you a view of how much here was never tested before this cryogenic test run,
here are some pictures of the lower Quick Disconnect, built to fuel the Super Heavy booster on the pad, in action.
SpaceX didn't cut corners. All the necessary systems were used and worked just fine.
Which is amazing!
Jumping over to the construction site, my next prediction seems to become true as well.
Ship 21 is history, and its nose cone will be reused for Ship 22.
What you're looking at here is the engine and fairing section of ship 22, and I want you to pay close attention to the heat shield once again.
It's leaps and bounds ahead of the older Ship 20 heat shield, and there is one main reason for it.
Never forget that when SpaceX workers had to build Ship 20's shield, it was the first one.
The first one ever in human history.
No one has ever built a Starship heat shield,
so it was clear from the beginning that the next few shields would show significant improvements, and that's precisely what ship 22 shows.
I am still not confident if ship 20 or 22 will make it back to the surface in one piece,
but I am reasonably optimistic that something like that can be achieved with ship 24, which would be next in line for launch number 3.
And on we go. Chief was able to take some stunning pictures of a new thrust puck that just got delivered to Starbase on the 16th.
Besides it likely being for Booster 9, it's the third one ever for 33 engines.
So, this center puck holds 13 engines, and the outer ring on the boosters thrust frame another 20.
What’s extremely interesting to see is how these pucks evolved over time.
Here’s a comparison of Nic Ansuini’s shot of a 33-engine thrust puck arriving in early October with the one Chief snapped pictures of about
two months later.
In particular, I want you to pay close attention to those recesses on the surface.
In just two months, Hawthorne, where these thrust pucks are made, increased the structural weaving by a significant amount.
The larger you make the recesses, the less the puck weighs.
The puck won't withstand the force if you take away too much material.
If you leave too much, it will be wasted weight.
Something you really want to avoid on a rocket to maximize payload capacity.
Next up, we'll talk Starship progress in a completely new Starship Launch complex, at Kennedy Space Center.
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Kennedy Space Center Starship Update
Elon Musk's stated goal is to develop humanity into a spacefaring civilization.
And although Christmas is just around the corner, SpaceX is working tirelessly to achieve this ambitious goal.
But things are not only happening in Texas.
Florida has sleepless nights too.
To satisfy all our needs for updates from the second Starship site, we sent the WAI cam up in the air again,
taking the latest pictures of Pad39A and its surroundings for us.
SpaceX is actively working in Florida again.
Boca Chica will soon not be the only place for Starship manufacturing and launch operations.
And as can be seen in these latest pictures from December 19th, SpaceX is working fast as always.
Leaving the old built site with the started Starship Pad empty and in the past, SpaceX is now working in a new spot.
A bit further away from the Falcon & Super Heavy pad.
Piling work has already begun.
Either for Mechazilla 2 or for a brand-new orbital launch mount.
SpaceX is also ramping up at Roberts Road, its production and refurbishment facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Roberts Road was in the news before.
Back in 2020, this was the place to produce Starships at the Cape, and now it seems the idea is back.
It's not clear yet what exactly SpaceX will be doing here regarding Starships, but it's clear by now that something will happen.
When I got these pictures back, I was honestly surprised.
Roberts Road is growing larger.
Much larger. Judging by the land clearing next to the already existing buildings, an entire Production site, as can be found at Starbase,
should fit into the area. And there's plenty of space left around it, making it easy for SpaceX to clear more land and expand.
Much easier than in Boca Chica, where land is limited due to the sea.
Even further, NASA's master plan calls for the site to be developed and converted into a multi-user spaceport.
The idea is not new but has been given new momentum by an inquiry from SpaceX suggesting a Launch Complex 49 as a second launch complex at the
Cape for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starships.
All in all, the plan involves a 175-acre site north of Launch Complex 39.
However, SpaceX cannot simply build on the site because the Kennedy Space Center is located in the middle of a nature reserve:
the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore.
Numerous endangered species live here, birds breed, seagrass, and alligators, dolphins, and sea turtles.
Preventing the extinction of humanity by accepting the end of other species through reckless construction would be a bad idea.
Above all, it would not meet NASA's ambition at KSC: Balancing technology and the environment.
As Don Dankert, technical manager of the Kennedy Environmental Planning Office, says,
every new construction project goes through a comprehensive environmental review process.
And the environmental review process is expected to get started in early 2022.
Every time we think that this is it, SpaceX is upping the game again.
More and faster seem to be the highest priorities.
At the same time though, the environment should not be left out.
Let’s do it! Let’s save the world!
But first, let’s order some more presents on Amazon, fly to a vacation and turn up the AC because it’s so cold today, right?
Listen, I have the same problem.
We all do. We're all living in the same world, and Christmas is coming!
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The facts are there. In plain sight.
Can we have both? Christmas and a future Christmas too?
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You don't know what your support means to all of us here at WAI.
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