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Huge Progress at the orbital Starship fuel farm.
Launch towers growing! A giant picture dump by RGV, Super Heavy Grid fin design changed!
And on top a possible orbital Starship Launch date!
Let’s find out!
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
And we’re back at it with another Starship Update and trust me.
Even though we’re not seeing test flights, it’s worth it to watch this one!
SpaceX’s pace is mind blowing, and we might have a possible date for orbital Starship launches!
So, stick with me!
Where on the last Episode I talked about segment number 4 being stacked onto the tower, today we can already watch segment number 5 go up.
In total it looks like SpaceX will have to stack up to 8 segments, but in theory that would mean another one and a half weeks until they’re done.
SpaceX is racing through this build even though it’s the largest launch support tower ever built.
Just as a little comparison. It took NASA 9 years to get Pad39B ready for the first Artemis launch and it was just a refurbishment.
SpaceX is setting new standards wherever they go and whatever they do.
Back in Mauricio’s plane for the latest RGV aerial photography pictures the progress is visible everywhere.
Huge thanks go out to Mauricio for doing these flights!
There’s nothing comparable to these pictures.
Head on over to his Patreon Page and or to his Twitter page to give him some support and a follow.
He really does deserve it so much!
Thank you, Mauricio! We can see the fifth segment on the ground here right before stacking.
We can also see lots of progress surrounding the launch tower from this unique viewing perspective.
There’s a new foundation being built right next to the existing blast berm for the landing pad.
It’s still unclear as to what this foundation will be used for, but it looks like a larger building again.
Being so close to the launch mount and the landing pad it might be a high bay or a bunker to be able to store equipment and secure it before launches.
Looking at the scenery from another angle new structures can be seen on the landing pad which right now is half covered with dirt.
Those yellow tubes have a diameter of around half a meter.
They’re large. It’s unknown as to what they’re for as well.
There are all sorts of ideas circulating around already.
A sound suppression system is one of the ideas going around.
I’m not sure about that. What do you think?
How will SpaceX use these yellow pipes?
Tell me in the comments! I am eager to hear your thoughts as always!
Moving on to the orbital tank farm the fast progress is very obvious as well.
Water tank is in position. One GSE tank is sleeved.
Two are in place without cryo jacket.
All remaining foundations are done.
6 out of a total of 10 nitrogen vaporizers are in place now.
Comparing the same site to a shot from May 31st and it looks like a completely different scene.
Another 4 weeks at most and all this is finished and ready to be tested if the progress continues as fast as it does right now.
SpaceX wants to get this done as fast as possible.
Right next to it we can see the Ground support equipment or GSE bunker.
On top of it we can see some white objects being put in place.
Those are compressed nitrogen tanks.
SpaceX is utilizing every bit of space they have available.
They’re still very much area constrained.
Right between the two larger white tanks a ch4 re-condenser has been put in place as well.
This will be an important object for us when it comes to that first orbital flight.
This is what we’ll look at to tell, if fueling has started already.
I am very much looking forward to these live streams with the WAI family!
Zooming out a bit more and showing the entire orbital fuel farm again the space constraints are becoming visible.
It’s also clear though, that this is not the end of the story either.
SpaceX is already preparing what seems to be a small road going up on the left side.
Branching out on the left and right now ending in a black container this does look like it will be continued at some point.
Lots to come in the future!
Moving towards the suborbital pads there’s an awful lot of work going on at pad A. It’s surrounded by all sorts of pipes and equipment.
This does look like they’re heavily modifying the pad.
There are some very large pipes there too.
These are not for fuel. They look more like water pipes to me.
SpaceX will need to static fire that first super heavy booster.
Is this for a deluge system?
In November of last year, I reported on Episode 134 about a miss hap at a Starship SN8 static fire.
The martyte coating on the concrete pad, put on it to make it more resistant to heat,
chipped away under the extreme stress caused by 3 Raptor engines directly firing their exhausts onto the pad from a close distance.
Back then this caused delays as the Starship actually took damage from these chips of martyte flying around at high speeds during the static fire.
If SpaceX lights 29 Super Heavy Raptors at the same time facing down onto the pad… without any additional sound suppression and deluge system…
That’s going to leave a nice crater.
So this work being done at suborbital pad A could be the first sign of SpaceX’s plan to do a super heavy static fire right here!
I can’t wait for this anymore.
It’s only been 10 weeks since the last test and on any other rocket development program 10 weeks between tests would be nothing,
but we’re all so spoiled by SpaceX by now!
Continuing our journey with Mauricio’s plane we’re traveling up highway 4 now towards the Starship construction site.
This is the old gas well site also known as Sanchez Site named after the company previously owning the gas wells.
This is where SpaceX is building the GSE tanks, the tower segments, the cryo jackets for the GSE tanks,
where they’re building an oxygen production plant and possibly even a methane plant for future Starship flights.
Busy place. We can already see another tower segment almost ready for the roll out on site.
Segment number 6, driving the tower up further and further.
Next to it material for segment number 7 is already laying around as well.
Below it we can see one almost finished cryo jacket, also almost ready for a roll out.
Two more jackets in various stages of production.
Above all that the refinery complex is getting larger and larger as well.
Between the oxygen plant and the airstream trailer park there are new buildings being prepared.
Above all that facing away from the road something strange is happening.
SpaceX has brought Starship SN15 and recently also SN16 to this location.
Here you can see Starship SN16 being rolled out from the High Bay towards that new location and being parked right next to the nosecone stress test jig.
Both Starships are in this location now.
In the middle you can see the nosecone stress test jig.
And inside the tent, if you pay close attention, you can see black squares on the ground.
They’re arranged in a circle as it seems and they do look like the squares that can be found under SN15’s stand.
One thing I do not understand though is that SN15 seems to be attached to a generator and some other white ground equipment.
It seems to be kept under pressure.
SpaceX would not need to do this, if they wanted to just display the Starship here.
So, after all, this might not just be a display stand.
And we already have a first clue to prove this theory.
Just before finishing the edit for today’s episode Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX might use SN16 on a hypersonic flight test in the future.
Again, a Display stand does not involve generators and pressurization equipment.
A hypersonic test flight would be incredible interesting to see.
For those interested, hypersonic refers to speeds starting at mach 5, which is pretty darn fast.
And such numbers would easily be reachable with three raptor engines alone.
Fueling a Starship with roughly 400 tons of fuel would make a flight to around 150 kilometers, maybe even more,
and a speed of up to Mach 7 or 8 possible even without a booster.
It’s unknown, if it would just fly straight up or down range.
It’s even unknown if it will happen at all, as there is a “might” in Elon’s tweet,
but it’s yet another awesome milestone to look forward to in the future.
Maybe even before an orbital flight.
So much has happened! Are you still with me?
We’re not done just yet! Next up we have Super Heavy nearing completion and Gwynne Shotwell, COO of SpaceX,
accidentally or on purpose releasing a countdown towards the first orbital flight!
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What you’re looking at here of course is the High Bay at SpaceX’s Starbase.
The place, where the final assembly is being done for all sorts of prototypes.
Many Starships had their final stacking done here and currently SpaceX is building that first real super heavy booster here that’s actually going
to be flown. BN2… or 3. No one knows exactly right now as there was some confusion brought in by Elon Musk himself,
calling the current build BN2 and saying that it will be flown.
So, for now I’ll just stick with BN2.
As you can see here, it’s attached to a crane in the picture.
It’s been stacked again and grew considerably.
Here the crane is lifting up almost the entire Oxygen tank.
Jack Beyer from Nasaspaceflight.com was on site to film everything.
And on top of that Elon Musk tweeted a picture showing the aft section where 29 raptor engines will be installed hanging down from the ceiling
attached to the overhead crane.
So, we have a stack leading all the way up to the common dome now.
What’s missing are some ring segments and finally the forward dome including grid fin mounts and stage adapter.
And for the first time, we’re getting pictures of exactly that section of a super heavy booster.
SpaceX workers have recently moved it out of one of the production tents, revealing it to the public.
So, there are tons of theories out there of course as to what we’re looking at here.
From Hot gas thruster outlets to laser canons everything can be found on the internet right now.
My personal favorite would be grid fin mounts and a catching system, but that’s of course unconfirmed as of now.
The large,
braced holes would in this theory be the mounts for the fins and the anchors between them might be related to a possible catching system for the
booster. One thing becomes aparrent quickly though.
These holes are not placed in a 90-degree angle towards each other.
On a Falcon 9 rocket booster, grid fins are oriented in a cross like manner.
In this case it would be different for Super Heavy.
Alex Svan has made first renders showcasing the new alignment if we’re correct, and the large holes really are grid fin mounts.
Looking at the renders, the x shaped alignment becomes more obvious.
SpaceX might have made this choice to make it easier for the tower to catch the booster.
This way all the grid fins could be oriented to the sides.
In a cross configuration with a 90 degree angle the fins would collide with the tower much easier, while the booster is coming down for the catch.
This way, there would be much more wiggle room.
Looking at a close up render of the speculated grid fin mounts the round shape of the attachment points makes a lot of sense too.
This could very well be it. Thank you, Alex, for being lightning fast in delivering these renders to Team Space!
Extremely well done!
So, with all this progress on Super heavy, the tank farm, the orbital launch site and everything else, one burning question remains.
When is it finally going to happen?
When will we see Super Heavy do a first test?
On Monday, June 14th, just outside of the editing window of the last episode,
Gwynne Shotwell sent out a commencement speech to the Northwestern University class of 2021.
First of all, congratulations to the students.
Well done!
Secondly, oh my! What’s that?
And great Scott! What’s this? I am so sure, they did this on purpose!
It’s probably the biggest tease in Starship history!
Tony Bela made a more accurate depiction of it, even putting the engines into a better proportion than SpaceX’s depiction.
Well done, Tony! But what exactly are we looking at, while Gwynne is giving her speech to the students?
It says Starship orbital launch engines shipped and under it there are 25 days, 7 hours and 30 minutes.
Some are saying that this is a countdown, but I don’t think so.
I think it shows the time since the first engine for the orbital flight was shipped out of the Hawthorne factory, at which this was recorded.
And on top of that it shows, which engines have been completed since then.
11 Raptors in 25 days, 7 hours and 30 minutes.
I come to this conclusion, because Musk recently stated, that Hawthorne right now is producing one Raptor every 48 hours.
25 divided by 11 finished Raptors is slightly more than 48 hours but not much.
Compared to 21 sea level Raptors and 3 vacuum Raptors still missing for the flight it just fits much better.
The other way around SpaceX would have finished one Raptor every day, which would not fit Elons statement very well.
BUT this gives us a solid clue as to when we can expect SpaceX to finish shipping the last engine needed for that first flight.
If they finished 11 engines in 25 days and 7 hours.
Let’s leave out the 30 minutes here.
That would mean one Raptor every 55 hours roughly.
24 Raptors are still missing. 55 times 24 would be 1320 hours, which would be 55 days.
Let’s just assume, that Mrs. Shotwell recorded the video on June 12th to give SpaceX some time to edit it before releasing it on June 14th,
that would put us at August 6th as the earliest date possible for a full 29 Raptor engine static fire test.
Of course, that’s all speculation.
Production can speed up or be delayed.
The picture could be the worst joke by SpaceX ever!
The video could have been recorded on a different date which would put us off by a few days,
but it’s the closest we can get to estimating the time left until SpaceX possesses the engines needed for booster and Starship to attempt an orbital
flight. Thank you so much to those at SpaceX who had the idea of showing this graph in the video!
It is so much appreciated! Orbital flight in August?
Stay tuned for more!
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