Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today, we have almost no standard SpaceX updates to look at but we do have a bunch of activity
in Boca Chica.
There’s also SN5 which is continuing to prepare for further testing, along with other
new bits of Starship that have been spotted.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
To start this video, SpaceX recently posted this amazing picture of Crew Dragon.
As you probably know, we’re looking at around the start to mid August for a return of Bob
and Doug.
However, right now, Crew Dragon capsule Endeavor looks great attached to the ISS.
As you will know from the last episode, I mentioned SpaceX were targeting Wednesday
July 8th for their next launch.
The company has tweeted to confirm that they are indeed targeting Wednesday 8th for the
tenth batch of Starlink satellites.
As I said, almost nothing in terms of just standard SpaceX updates so let’s head to
Boca Chica.
Starting with this great view of the Boca Chica tracking facility.
You can see this satellite dish slowly moving and apparently tracking GPS III shortly after
it launched.
Next, we have a cool view of the Starhopper vehicle which now has a whole load of tech
installed on it.
This great shot shows the water tower being lit purple and some amber lighting too.
Apparently the amber lighting is sea turtle friendly because Boca Chica has a lot of turtle
breeding.
However, the purple is unclear but maybe it’s just to give Starhopper a cool look at night.
Nothing really to talk about here, but thought I would show you the latest view of the Starship
/ Super Heavy launch pad construction.
Another thing that was captured over by the test and launch area is the old launch mount.
Damaged by the equipment failure that caused the explosion of SN4, it was replaced by a
newer mount.
The old mount is still hanging out and Jack Beyer suggests maybe they're going to refurbish
it.
It looks like it just needs a paint job and new ground support equipment so that would
make sense.
Also, over by the fuel farm, engineers are working on installing some new equipment.
Appears that this new equipment is being added on top of a tank.
I’m not sure what it is but my guess would be something to do with monitoring the weather.
Here is a closer view of what's been installed on top.
Seems that a bunch of these have been going up around the Boca Chica facility.
Over at the construction area, we have the new machine now being called Bluezilla.
We’ve seen a bunch of the new Manitowoc crane construction recently.
However, it’s now pretty much complete and ready for action.
This crane is an absolute behemoth, I mean just look at this view of it.
Not sure if this is its fully extended height, but just compare the size of it to the mid
bay which you can slightly see on the right.
Can’t wait to start seeing the high bay rise.
There has been yet another arrival with something slightly different this time.
Previously we saw a cool food truck with a great decal, and another food truck appears
to have arrived.
There have also been some bits of Starship noses that have been spotted.
Here you can see the nose cone that was most recently inside the tent, it’s now been
moved outside.
After that, this view was spotted where another nose cone was moved beside it.
The one that was moved next to it on the right is the old nose we were assuming was for SN5
I believe.
Not only this, but more recently, yet another nose cone was spotted.
So in this shot, I believe the leftmost nose cone is the newest nose cone we’ve recently
seen being built.
The nose just to the right of it is the originally assumed SN5 nose I believe.
Then the new nose cone in the tent is just that, a new nose cone.
Remember these may not be tied to Starships and could just even be pathfinders.
However, if I were to speculate, I would say the leftmost nose is for SN6, then SN5 to
the right and maybe SN8 inside the tent.
Another new section to show you is this mystery bulkhead that has appeared outside.
Whilst we can’t say for sure what this might be for, it’s possibly a new test tank.
Musk mentioned a second SN7 test tank previously.
Alternatively, it could be the start of the next full size tank.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
For the final part of the video, let’s take a look at SN5.
Due to how close the test was to my video during the week, I wasn’t able to include
footage.
However, here is a very sped up video of the whole test which actually happened over the
course of hours.
Anyway, you can see it was just a simple proof test and probably not to test anything but
the integrity of the vehicle.
So that’s the first successful test for SN5.
Here is the view of SN5 after the test and as expected it's looking great.
Although, this vehicle likely has a long way to go in terms of testing so we’ll see how
good it looks by the end.
However, not very long after the first successful cryo test, engineers started working under
the vehicle.
You can see here that they began working to remove the hydraulic rams.
These are used for simulating the force of the Raptor thrust on the bottom of the vehicle.
As you can see the hydraulic rams were very quickly detached from the test stand.
After which they were placed on the back of a truck to be moved over to another area of
the facility.
With the thrust simulators removed, SN5 was then just waiting for a Raptor engine.
Standing tall on the launch mount, the next test planned for this vehicle is most likely
a static fire.
As you can see, work has continued inside the thrust section of the vehicle to prepare
it.
They’ve got a bunch of work to do underneath for Raptor installation and static fire preparation.
However, what we have here is a new Raptor we haven’t seen before.
This is Raptor SN27 and whilst it has likely undergone testing in McGregor it’s new to
Boca Chica.
The previously seen Raptors in Boca Chica were SN18 and SN20.
As you can see here, the engine has been moved over to the launch area by SN5.
Shortly after being moved over to the SN5 vehicle, Raptor SN27 was installed.
Whilst there is no footage of the installation process, you can see engineers continuing
to work inside the thrust section.
Also captured was this footage of them removing the Raptor installation platform.
So, with this, it must mean there is not much more to do underneath the vehicle before the
first static fire.
With this information the final thing that we will take a look at is the upcoming testing.
As you can see on the Cameron County website, there are currently some scheduled road and
beach closures.
As always, these dates are subject to changes because SpaceX often have some delays.
However, as of right now, we’re looking at Wednesday July 8th for the primary date,
then backup dates of Thursday and Friday.
Hopefully we should see over the next week at least one static fire test.
Incredibly exciting times as we inch closer and closer to the first 150 metre hop.
As always a massive thank you goes the legendary Mary, otherwise known as BocaChicaGal for
her time and dedication.
Also a massive thank you goes to the rest of the NSF team who put in a lot of work with
their livestreams and other space related news.
I also want to extend a thank you to my subscribers.
7 and a half thousand people is absolutely insane and this is just the start of our journey.
I cannot thank each and every one of you enough.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow, I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!