Welcome back and thanks for tuning in to episode 20 of LabPadres SpaceX and Starbase weekly updates.
We got a lot of action for you today so let's dig in!
Starting things off at Boca Chica the AFT section of ship 26 one of three known Starships
under construction was moved out of tent three. Meanwhile construction Crews at the permanent star factory made
significant headway in installing rails for the Factory's gantry cranes. Over at the orbital launch
tower Meccazilla's right Chopstick hydraulic actuator was removed ahead of its replacement.
The replacement hydraulic unit similar to the one that replaced the actuator for the left chopstick
arrived later that night. TNT's crane previously on the far side of the mega Bay relocated to the
ring yard on the forward side of the building. Spacex's recovery ship Doug returned to
Port Canaveral towing A Shortfall Of Gravitas with booster 1067 after the successful launch of CRS-25.
Less than four hours later the Falcon 9 booster was lifted onto the dock. Returning to Starbase
Texas the TNT crane was put to use installing support beams for large glass windows all across
the mega bay's top floor. That afternoon there was a traffic accident involving a pair of
pickup trucks at the entrance of the build site. Overnight workers continued installing thermal
protection tiles on the untiled portions of ship 24 as seen here on the AFT body flap covers.
After last week's incident during booster 7 spin prime tests, multiple center mounted
engines were pulled from the booster for detailed and up close examination. Early on the afternoon
of the 18th, Starship 24 conducted its own spin prime test with its Raptor 2 and vacuum engines.
The spin prime process which brings the engine's turbo pumps up to operational speed from a cold
start involves pushing cryogenic propellants through the pumps under pressure intentionally
stopping short of engine ignition. A bit of subsection shuffling took place beginning
with ship 26's aft section being moved to the mega bay. Approximately 10 hours later after possible
fit checks with a booster the aft section of Starship 26 was removed from the facilities.
Additional raptor engines were removed from booster 7 overnight. Continuing into the morning
of the 19th, the starlink loader which was used to load ship 24 with a number of star
link satellites was relocated from the building site to the new climate-controlled building near
the crane shed which appears to have been built for the satellite loading operations.
After the successful launch of starlink 4-22 the recovery ship Bob returned to port with
the missions fairing halves. Later in the evening SpaceX's other recovery ship Doug towed A Shortfall
Of Gravitas out to sea ahead of starlink 4-25 mission. Back in Boca Chica a round of cryogenic
testing took place on the B 7.1 test tank simulating structural loads on a booster in flight.
On the morning of the 20th, the first load of glass for the mega bay's top floor was delivered.
A day after the return to Port Canaveral the starlink 4-22 fairing halves were offloaded from Bob.
Another round of Starship 24's testing campaign began with the triggering of the
engine igniters. If you listen closely you can hear the two separate tests.
The igniter test was followed about an hour later by the first of two spin prime tests.
The second round of spin prime testing followed approximately two hours later.
Aiding the expansion of the program's development efforts a load of new starship stand segments was
delivered to the build site. Closing out the evening of the 20th, Just Read The Instructions
return to port with Falcon 9 booster 1051. following the launch of starlink 4-22.
The next day, Falcon 9 booster 1051 was unloaded from Just Read The Instructions onto the dock.
Returning to Boca Chica, a second load of Starship stand segments was delivered to the build site.
Turning to the launch site the ship quick disconnect arm was rotated away from the tower.
Testing continued with a slow extension shown here at 25 times speed. The ship quick
disconnect arm was quickly retracted about 30 minutes later which is shown here in real time.
Seemingly not content with the previous rounds of testing ship 24 performed two additional
engine spin prime tests. While ship 24's engine testing wrapped up B 7.1 was tested to failure
as the upper level Stringer section buckled under the test load. Turning our attention to
Promontory, Utah, Northrop Grumman conducted a solid rocket motor test for the space launch system.
Finishing up this week's segment we're pleased to bring you another round of
flyover photos from Cape Canaveral by our eyes in the sky, Greg Scott.
As we've seen for the last several weeks work continues at a rapid pace at SpaceX's launch
complex 39a. While crews continue working on the Starship launch platform tower and
ground support equipment the Falcon 9 launch pad adjacent to it remains fully operational.
Although we just missed it for this week's flyover the fourth segment of the Starship launch Tower
was rolled out to pad 39a on Wednesday evening and then stacked early on Thursday morning.
The launch Tower is now about half of its expected height and the remaining segments are just about
ready and waiting to be rolled out from the Roberts Road facility just a few short miles away.
We can also see work has continued on the ring section located adjacent to the mystery structure
which is now about twice the height that it just was two weeks ago. As if anticipating
the return of NASA's SLS which rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the beginning
of July following the last wet dress rehearsal 39b appears quiet and serene... for the time being.
NASA announced this week that the Artemis 1 mission is now targeting a potential launch date
near the end of August. Over at SpaceX's Roberts Road facility progress continues at a fast pace.
From the South, the HangarX expansion almost looks complete. Looking at it from the Northwest
however we can see that there are still two access holes in the side of the building
and the adjacent lot will still need paving and finishing touches once the building is complete.
Just to the West of HangarX is the developing Florida Starship facility. In the Northeast corner
of the lot we can see that work continues on the construction of the launch Tower sections.
We can see that section 4 already had the SPMTS underneath it that were used to roll it to the
launch site just hours after the pictures were taken. The small army of the lifts around section
5 shows just how hard SpaceX is working to complete the fit out of this complicated section which will
serve as the transition point for the QD arm. We can also see that section 8 has now been assembled.
This section is different from the Starbase tower's 8 section but it's not yet clear if
this is just for ease of construction or if this new tower could be taller.
Nearby work on the chopsticks is progressing rapidly. these new arms are significantly shorter
than their Texas counterparts which may be an indicator of SpaceX's confidence in the system.
Next to the chopsticks we can see that the main body of the carriage has been assembled and seems
to now be waiting for the arm extensions that will wrap around the tower legs. We can also
see the extension that will be attached to the end of the QD arm on the launch tower.
On the other side of the carriage assembly scaffolding around the rest of the QD arm
shows that crews are also busy assembling and preparing it for installation. Just to the South
very rapid progress is being made on the Roberts Road Star Factory. Construction is proceedingly
different than in Texas with Florida crews pre-assembling roof sections consisting of
steel beams and bar joists on the ground before lifting them into place atop of the steel columns.
Next to the current steel work, work has begun on the concrete slab for the middle of the building .
Just south of the new concrete work crews are continuing work on the underground banks of
the electrical conduit by constructing different sections of the building in different sequences.
SpaceX should be able to have the entire building finished much more quickly. Next to the star
factory construction we can see the staging ground SpaceX is using for all the construction materials
that are awaiting installation. In the final corner of the site we can see that the foundations of the
first mega bay are nearly complete. More than half of the perimeter has been poured and the
crews seem to be finishing up preparations for the remaining sections to be poured soon. A few
miles south of Roberts Road is Blue Origin's Cape Canaveral production facilities. Here we can see
that work continues on the structural foundations for the expansion of the southern most building.
Nearby, ground clearing continues for the construction of additional buildings in the
near future. Just North of that is Blue Origin's rocket factory building and in the background
the new two-cat facility. Work on this new building which will be used to clean and test second stages
of the New Glen rocket has been progressing steadily over the past several months. Currently
crews are assembling what appears to be sliding doors for the facility. And several miles away at
Blue Origin's LC36 the facilities wait patiently for that first New Glenn test article to be ready
for pad testing. Over at Port Canaveral's docks Falcon 9 booster 1067 was connected to a crane
in preparation for its transfer to the transporter following dockside processing. SpaceX support ships
Megan and Shannon were docked nearby. These ships are used to recover both crew and cargo dragons
from the sea after splashdown. And finally for this week SpaceX support ship Bob was spotted setting down
a new fairing recovery device after performing some test retrievals of the training fairings seen
here on its deck. And there you have it. Another SpaceX and Starbase weekly update with a splash
of Blue Origin, brought to you by LabPadre. Make sure you subscribe and hit the alert bell for new
video and live stream notifications. We'll see you next week and thanks for watching. LabPadre...out!