This episode is sponsored by Surfshark.
Will Super Heavy land? Will the suborbital Starship pads burn?
What’s SpaceX’s plan for Super Heavy landings?
What’s the result of the latest Starship cryo tests, when can we expect the static fire, and what happens when a Starship sneezes?
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
SpaceX's Starship is drawing the attention of the spaceflight community more and more, and rightfully so.
The project could, if successful, revolutionize the way we access space, and it might even make us a multi-planetary species.
And we’re testing! As predicted in the last Episode, SpaceX has started testing Starship 20 in preparation for static fires.
We’re getting closer and closer to a possible first orbital flight.
This cryogenic test used liquid Nitrogen.
LNG is used to simulate cryogenic fuel.
It has about the same temperature, it can be used to build up the same pressure, and this way,
SpaceX can make sure that the construction is safe to use and that it can withstand the pressure needed for a flight.
All that without risking a devastating explosion, if something goes wrong.
Liquid Nitrogen is inert. It’s not flammable.
What can happen if real propellant is used and something goes wrong can be seen here.
It's Starship prototype SN4, and Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut,
got the best pictures of what arguably was the most powerful explosion at the Starbase launch site yet.
A fuel quick disconnect failed after a successful static fire of a Raptor engine.
The explosion was so powerful that you could even see the shockwave propagating upwards through the atmosphere.
And this had only enough fuel in it for one static fire.
If they’d fully fuel a Starship and something went wrong, the result would be much more powerful.
So, it's a wise decision to use liquid Nitrogen for these cryogenic tests.
And closely studying the footage, everything looked great.
The test candidate likely reached flight pressure, and there were no visible problems.
Quite the opposite, actually. Some impressive venting could be seen as well.
It's always a pleasure to see a Starship come alive for such a test.
It's a reminder that this is real and that these prototypes don't just look good.
They also work as intended.
Next up, we have the static fire.
It's unclear right now how many raptors will be ignited, but we'll likely at least see all three sea-level engines be test-fired.
The booster will likely be tested at the orbital launch mount as the Suborbital pads might not be suited for a 28 Raptor engine static fire,
which would need to be done before a Super Heavy launch.
A super-heavy static fire would likely burn up the suborbital pads and cause heavy damage.
Maybe even to the booster itself.
The orbital Pad is not ready yet, though…
And orbital fuel farm one, which would be needed for a cryogenic test, and a static fire at the orbital launch mount isn’t ready either.
But we’re getting closer and closer every day.
A load spreader and a crane have been attached to the GSE 8 cryo shell recently.
It's the one tank that's still missing, and it will complete the GSE tank setup once it's delivered to the launch site.
Another sign for the Orbital fuel farm approaching usability is a recent venting activity on one of the LOX tanks and constant Liquid nitrogen deliveries to the fuel farm.
Sometimes the setup of the orbital fuel farm can be really confusing.
The Denks on Twitter has made the most complete diagram of the orbital fuel farm yet.
It’s really geeky stuff, but I do know that there are some in the WAI community, who like me, love the geeky details.
I am not going to explain the diagram in-depth, but I did want to spread the word about it.
In the credits section of this episode, there's a direct link to the Denks Twitter account.
Go check it out for the diagram if you want to go really deep into how the orbital fuel farm works in detail.
There are constant reminders, though, that the Starship test program is just that.
A test program.
On October 27th, this could be observed on the LabPadre live stream.
It’s Starship 20… sneezing. And something can be seen falling down.
No, it's not snot.
Right next to a worker passing by.
Those are TPS heat tiles. And they fell down from the nose cone of Starship 20.
A slight noise could be heard too.
Elon Musk responded to a short clip posted by Louis from Lab Padre and gave some more information.
The header Tank vent knocked off a few tiles.
Luis, our photographer was on site a few hours after it happened and took these pictures for us.
They show the aftermath of the Starship sneeze and the missing heat tiles that fell down.
In daylight, the damage can be spotted even better.
This picture was taken on the morning after the incident.
The header tank vent can be seen too, and it aims directly at the edge of the heat shield.
The vent must have been able to move the edge of the first few tiles,
and then it was able to blow under them and rip them off from Starship 20's hull.
The damage is not bad, and the fix will likely be easy, but it opens up a few questions.
Looking at a picture of the nose cone from a day before the incident shows the edge of the heat shield intact.
It's not smooth at all, and air does have an attack point here.
It's not much, but a strong blast can use this 90-degree angle to inflict force directly on the tiles.
The vent is an easy fix. Just point it away from the tiles.
But what about the general durability of the heat shield?
If a header tank vent can blow off some tiles, what will the force of orbital re-entry do to the heat shield?
Does it need a better attachment method?
Likely. What’s really important here is that you shouldn't forget one fundamental fact whenever you look at these Starship prototypes.
It's a prototype. It's under active development, and most of what you see here is not the final product.
What you’re looking at here is a video made by Trevor Mahlmann,
an accomplished launch photographer whom you should follow on Twitter if you’re not yet doing so.
He was able to catch a video of CRS 23’s cargo dragon reentering Earth’s atmosphere on October 1st.
Besides this being the final part of a perfect mission execution by SpaceX to resupply the International Space Station once more,
it also shows how much force is involved when an object comes down to Earth again from orbit.
This is what a Starship will have to endure as well.
And, likely, Starship 20's heat shield might not be able to do this.
Musk has stated before that the first few Starships will likely not make it back down.
Either by failing to reach orbit or by not making it through the critical phase of re-entry.
Prototyping.
And there's always something new.
My friend Marcus House, whose channel you should watch if you're not, recently published an exciting idea.
These pictures taken by Starship Gazer show a strange thin hull of some sort inside the high bay.
SpaceX has been working on it right next to booster 5. Marcus's theory is that it might be an internal tank for booster 5 which will hold fuel
for a boost back and landing burn.
Musk has stated before that Super Heavy boosters will need a separate tank for those maneuvers.
Likely because the main tanks are much larger than on a Falcon 9 booster, which doesn't require individual tanks for this.
Slushing would be much harder to control inside such a large main tank.
SpaceX workers have recently lowered the already stacked booster 5 hull onto this smaller tube, solidifying the theory of a header tank.
Now, Mary from Nasa Spaceflight has taken this picture.
It shows a small diameter segment, apparently with 32 holes in it.
This could be a part of just that header tank.
Markus depicted the tank as being inside the booster and on the side of the hull.
What if SpaceX integrates the header tank around the central downcomer in the middle of the booster?
In this case, the weight wouldn't be asymmetric, and SpaceX would have a much more centered design.
Booster 5 with header tanks, of course, also means that booster 4’s successor might already attempt a landing in Boca Chica.
What do you think? Is this part of the Super Heavy header tank, and if so,
would it be built around the central fuel downcomer inside the lox tank?
As always, tell me in the comments!
Next up, we'll talk booster 5 and Ship 21 progress, and we'll take a look at possible upcoming test dates!
Stay tuned!
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So, Starship 20 is in full test mode by now, getting ready for a static fire,
and booster 4 is still waiting for the orbital launch mount to be ready for first tests.
Progress, progress, progress. But we're talking SpaceX,
and the Starship program maybe is the fastest moving rocket development program of all times.
This is the construction site of SpaceX's Starbase, as seen from Mauricio's point of view on his last flyby.
Make sure to check out his YouTube Channel, his Twitter, and his Patreon page.
Links can be found in the description.
And there are some things that can only be seen from the bird’s eye view.
Like the progress on the super high bay that’s under construction right now.
And SpaceX is quick with the build, to say the least.
The foundation, made up of several layers of heavily reinforced concrete, is almost ready by now,
and anchor points for pillars can already be seen.
SpaceX is building this additional high bay to accommodate the prototype build speed we can look forward to next year.
SpaceX will need to speed up development and go different paths as well.
A lunar Starship is different from a regular one, so sooner or later, SpaceX will need more prototypes and faster.
While on the ground, Mauricio was able to take this picture of a freshly delivered booster grid fin.
It likely is for booster 5, which is steadily growing inside the high bay and should be fully stacked within the next week or two.
Here’s a question I’ve heard a few times when showing pictures of Booster 4. This one was taken right after the booster got taken down from
the orbital launch mount to make room for Mechazilla construction.
Do you see those COPV's? They're covered with plastic bags, and that, of course, is not final.
Starship Gazer was able to take some awesome pictures of what will be the replacement for the plastic bags.
You're looking at a booster aft aero cover, and there are several of them on-site already.
They look crude. As always, when SpaceX introduces something for the first time on the Starship program.
Likely not the final design, but they'll do the job.
These covers will be placed on top of the COPV's, heat exchangers, and other hardware,
positioned on the outside of booster 4's aft section once work is done on these parts.
They will give the protection needed on ascend.
Thank you, Starship Gazer, for these awesome pictures!
Make sure to check out his Twitter account!
A link is in the credit section!
Alex Svan has recently released a new animation depicting a Starship Orbital launch compared to a Falcon Heavy.
Besides it being an incredible animation again, it also shows one crucial aspect about SpaceX, you might not immediately see.
Falcon Heavy is brand new rocket tech.
February 6th of 2018. That's when Falcon Heavy had its maiden flight.
A bit more than 3 and a half years.
For a rocket, that's nothing. Rockets like Soyuz have been in service for decades.
And that's normal. At least it was until SpaceX entered the market.
Now, a Falcon Heavy, arguably the king of rockets right now, is already almost outdated after a few years of service.
SpaceX’s only real competitor right now is SpaceX.
And that after only 19 years of company history.
Musk and his team are breaking records with everything they do.
As a final for today's episode, let's have a look at when we can see the next Starship tests and the next records being broken!
As of recording this episode, we have new road closures for October 7th, 8th, and 11th.
Yet another sign for SpaceX ramping up the testing again.
According to the closure times, Thursday might just be what we're looking for.
Highway 4 will be closed from 5 p.m.
local time to midnight. Since the thrust rams have been taken out under Starship 20 after the recent cryogenic test,
the next one likely is the static fire, and this could be it.
If the first test date isn't enough, we have two more secondary test dates on October 8th and 11th.
Let's keep our fingers crossed for an excellent static fire and a clean engine test for Starship 20.
This would be the next major milestone needed on the road to the orbital launch.
Then it all depends on Booster 4.
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