Do you want to know what happens during a Raptor Engine Ignition?
Or what SpaceX will look like in 20 years?
Or do you want to witness the end of an era?
Then let’s dive right in!
My name is Felix, and I am your host for today's episode of What about it.
We’re back from Artemis and from Starbase!
Time to dive into rockets, space, and the future again!
Thank you for joining me today!
There’s a lot to talk about!
Starship Updates
SpaceX is incredibly busy with all things Starship.
In the past weeks, while we did our tour to Starbase, SpaceX has accomplished a lot of smaller and bigger milestones on its road to orbit.
One of them certainly is the 7-engine static fire with Booster 7. Cosmic Perspective have released a stunning video of the whole process,
which I’d like to show you in detail.
SpaceX doesn’t tell us much about what’s happening on the inside of a Raptor engine as that’s their secret sauce,
but we can extrapolate a lot of stuff from just observing what the engine does.
For the following explanation, keep in mind that all this was derived from outside observation and the few explanations SpaceX has given us,
so there might be errors in this, but we should be able to get fairly close to what’s actually happening!
So, to dive right in, the first thing we can see under the Super Heavy booster as the engines start up is this white vapor.
This is gaseous nitrogen. It purges turbopumps and pre-burners to ensure that the following start-up is as clean as possible.
Any amount of fuel or oxidizer is being purged out of the feed lines and the powerheads themselves.
Immediately after the purge is done, you can see hot gas shooting out of the nozzle.
You can tell by the turbulence in the air.
High-pressure gas from the tanks is shooting through the pre-burners.
Pressure always wants to flow from high to low.
So, the pressure going into the engine needs to be higher than what’s internally used inside the engine initially.
The SpaceX Raptor 2, compared to the Raptor 1 engine, has no torch igniters in the main chamber anymore.
This is one of the reasons why the engines look so much cleaner on the outside around the main combustion chamber, so right above the engine nozzle.
How exactly they made this work is unclear.
Musk stated that it wasn’t super easy to accomplish but that they made it happen.
It gives them a few huge benefits.
As mentioned, a significant complexity reduction, a reduction of failure modes, makes the engine lighter, reduces the production cost,
and it makes the engine more reliable on ignition.
Overall it was a huge improvement to get rid of the torch igniters in the main chamber.
However, there are still torch igniters in the oxygen and fuel powerheads.
Powerhead, in this case, means the turbopump and preburner assemblies.
Chief was on site as well, taking some stunning footage of the test.
In general, the startup sequence of a Raptor engine is pretty complex, as both oxygen and fuel powerheads run on different shafts, whereas,
for example, the Merlin engine runs both oxygen and fuel turbopump on the same shaft, so mechanically locked and with the same rpm.
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On a Raptor engine, both turbopumps and pre-burners are on separate shafts, and they even cross-feed each other,
making the startup sequence insanely complex.
Musk explained it as a delicate dance between fuel and oxygen powerhead.
If anything goes out of sync, you can melt your pre-burners.
Once it’s running, it’s a much easier-to-handle beast, but while it’s starting up, it’s easy to melt or even explode an engine.
There are literally hundreds of things happening simultaneously until this happens.
Main chamber ignition.
In real-time, the whole process takes around 1.5 seconds.
And that’s exactly what makes this so difficult to achieve.
Ryan Hansen Space made a quick animation, highlighting the engines used for the static fire and the order in which they were ignited.
Interesting to note here is that these were not the engines used on a later static fire but those from the spin prime test earlier that day.
Even though we just saw SpaceX ignite 7 Raptor engines simultaneously for roughly 7 seconds on September 19th,
this might open your eyes to the significance of this milestone.
Next, we should see them ignite 20 Raptor engines if they’re still following their internal plans.
Before we can see more action,
SpaceX needs to make a few more improvements to Booster 7. As seen here in this wonderful SpaceX drone footage,
it was rolled back to the production site on September 22nd.
The official word from SpaceX?
Booster 7 transported back to the Starship factory for robustness upgrades ahead of the flight.
That’s right. We got another estimate from Elon for a possible launch window.
Late next month, maybe, but November seems highly likely.
We will have two boosters and ships ready for orbital flight by then, with full-stack production at roughly one every two months.
And yes, Booster 7 is still planned to launch first.
According to Elon, SpaceX is taking a little risk there.
Engine Isolation on Booster 7 was done as a retrofit or as an afterthought.
So it’s not as good as on booster 9.
Remember how I said earlier that it’s really easy to melt or even explode an engine if anything goes wrong during the powerhead spin-up?
To launch Super Heavy,
SpaceX will have to ignite 33 engines in a sequence that minimizes stress on the main thrust structure of the rocket while at the same time being
prepared for a catastrophic failure.
Engine Isolation means that each engine is in a separate compartment, which on Booster 7 isn’t the case.
So, Booster 9 will have yet another major change to its engine bay.
Chief also took some stunning footage of a recent Sound suppression system test at the Starbase Launch site.
Water vapor can be seen sprayed out into the middle of the orbital launch mount.
This system will undoubtedly be used to mitigate shockwaves created by the engines and bounced up against the rocket again.
It’s good to see that the system is making good progress.
Time will tell if this is enough to tame 33 Raptors on ignition.
More and more information is coming to us that SpaceX is planning to move one of their boosters to Kennedy Space Center via ship before the end of this year.
Greg Scott was up in the air again, taking some incredible pictures.
The WAI team substantially supports Greg's and Farrielle's work on Patreon.
More flights are needed, and we couldn’t possibly do this alone.
Looking at these latest pictures shows the progress on the Florida Starfactory.
Not long, and the building will be usable for first test work.
Launches will likely have to wait until the second half of 2023, but we’re very much looking forward to that happening here in Florida.
On September 11th, SpaceX rolled the final segment of Mechazilla 2 out towards Pad39A and later stacked it onto the tower.
Its main structure is finished now.
That doesn’t mean it's operational.
There are quite a few things still missing.
Chopsticks, QD Arms, hydraulic system components.
Farrelle, who joins Greg for flyovers, took this picture of the drawworks for the new Mechazilla at Pad39A.
It’s almost the same system as in Boca Chica as depicted here in one of SpaceX 3D creation eccentric’s wonderful animations.
We can also see more and more parts for a third Mechazilla at Roberts Road.
Where this tower will be built is still unknown, but there are a few possible locations.
Either at a future Pad 49, to be constructed north of Pad 39B at the old planned location for the Apollo Pad 39C,
which never got built or at Pad 39A, which would take the Pad to the next level with two Starship towers.
A third possible option would be the Falcon 9 Landing zones.
If you haven’t done so yet, join me on Twitter and Instagram @felixschlang to be part of the greater discussion.
There still is a lot of debate between NASA and SpaceX about a possible catch at Pad39A,
and even though the Mechazilla at the Pad will be capable of catching it doesn’t mean that this will necessarily happen right away.
Priority number one is to get the system operational as fast as possible.
If this means building an extra Mechazilla at the landing zones to get catching at the Cape and show NASA that it can be done reliable,
that’s what SpaceX would do. It’ll be very interesting for sure!
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SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink Satellites to orbit on September 24th.
It was SpaceX’s 43rd orbital mission for 2022.
SpaceX’s previous record for most launches in one year was last year's 31 launches,
so SpaceX is on track to set yet another consecutive record number.
The launch went perfect with a pinpoint landing on SpaceX’s drone ship A shortfall of gravitas out on the Atlantic Ocean.
There doesn’t seem to be an obvious limit to Booster reusability, and Starlink launches, besides being very important for SpaceX’s future,
are the test bed for Falcon 9 reusability.
Musk stated before that Some parts would need to be replaced but that 100+ flights with a Falcon 9 booster would be possible.
On September 10th, they showed that well beyond 10 isn’t a problem.
B1058.14 lifted off from LC39A for Starlink 4 dash 2 and landed on a Shortfall of Gravitas.
Done. Onwards to 15. Incredible.
From firsts to lasts, ULA has launched the last Delta 4 Heavy rocket ever.
From its early beginnings as a weapon system through its transformation to a commercial launch vehicle,
the Delta family of ULA rockets has seen a lot, and September 24th marked the end of the line.
At least on the West Coast.
Titled by United Launch Alliance as the most metal rocket of all, Delta IV ignited itself on every launch to burn off excess Hydrogen bleed,
giving it its unique look on every flight.
And yes, that does look pretty Metal!
Delta IV took off for one last time without a problem for the NROL 91 launch out of Vandenberg, California.
14 flights total from December 21st of 2004 until September 24th of 2022.
Two more flights are left in 2023 and 2024 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Having only one partial failure right at the start and on its maiden flight with the common booster cores underperforming and resulting in a lower
orbit than planned, Delta IV Heavy can be counted among the top tier of reliable rockets.
I'll miss those Delta 4 heavy launches out of Vandenberg.
Thanks for the show, ULA! From the past into the future, Polaris Dawn is getting ready for a spectacular mission!
Anna, Kidd, Rook, Sarah. Remember those names,
for they will gow down in Spaceflight history as the first completely private mission of the Polaris program.
The program consists of up to three human spaceflight missions that will demonstrate new technologies,
conduct extensive research and ultimately culminate in the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship with humans on board.
So much for SpaceX’s official word.
No earlier than March 2023, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket.
It will carry Polaris Dwan, a modified Crew Dragon,
into low Earth orbit to start a program to research important technologies needed to advance human space exploration.
Among the firsts for this flight is the first ever private extra vehicular activity or EVA.
And the four SpaceX Astronauts are training hard for this mission.
A fighter Jet training weekend on the 17th and 18th of September.
The week before that, EVA training and a visit to SpaceX’s Starbase.
Centrifuge training, low oxygen chamber.
The whole deal.
The plan is to have a hatch at the top of the capsule where the universal docking adapter, needed to dock with the ISS, normally is.
The crew will be protected by a yet-to-be-shown EVA suit and part of the mission will take place outside the capsule.
NASA has done this many times, but an entirely private mission has never performed this dangerous task.
It is very much needed preparation for future Moon and Mars missions,
and it is one of the first steps to turn SpaceX into more than just a launch provider.
Astronaut training and mission planning and execution are normally part of NASA’s work.
Having had the pleasure of talking to two of the Inspiration 4 Astronauts by now,
recently with Jared Isaacman on a wonderful live stream by Felix’s Space Time,
made me realize once more that SpaceX’s plans go far beyond building rockets and launching them.
We’re at the very beginning of a much greater idea of being a full-service provider.
SpaceX’s plans involve everything needed from constructing reusable rockets, training Astronauts, and executing missions,
all directed by one private company.
What will SpaceX look like 10 or 20 years from now?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
And if you have the same opinion as I do, head to our WAIwear merch store and buy yourself a brand new Becoming Multiplanetary shirt by Tony Bela!
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That's it for today thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you again on Friday!