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Yay! I’m back from my vacation!
SpaceX didn’t take a break though!
So, what did they learn from Starship 11 and how will Starship 15 improve on it?
Where is SpaceX at on the road to orbital Starship flights and is a July 1st goal reasonable at all?
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
Two and a half months to go according to Elon Musk.
That’s the internal goal until SpaceX wants to have the first Starship prototype orbital.
July 1st. That seems fast! But is it doable?
Can SpaceX actually make it happen?
March ended with Starship number 11.
Schrödinger’s Starship as I like to call it.
SpaceX decided to launch it in the thickest fog one can imagine and, in the end, it didn’t make it to the pad.
It exploded in the air above the launch facility, and no one has really seen anything.
Some of the best footage out there definitely comes from Cosmic Perspective.
Make sure to check out their channel and consider becoming their Patron.
Links can be found in the description!
There are tons of theories as to what exactly happened.
Being asked by Everything SpaceX on Twitter as to how the investigation into SN11’s RUD was going,
Musk replied with the first official statement as to the cause of the accident.
The ascend phase, transition to horizontal & control during free fall were all good.
But a relatively small CH4 leak led to a fire on engine 2 and fried a part of the avionics,
causing a hard start attempting the landing burn in the CH4 turbopump.
If we take a close look at the engine to the left on SpaceX’s official live stream this could be the problem, Musk was talking about.
We’ve seen these engines catch on fire many times before on test flights.
So much so, that it was considered normal and not dangerous.
Apparently, this assessment might have been wrong.
Starship SN15 will have an updated Raptor engine version, hopefully preventing these fires from occurring again in the future.
Mauricio went up for a plane flight on the same day and took pictures only hours after the anomaly had occurred.
The debris field can be seen covering the entire SpaceX South Texas Launch Site.
Pieces landed everywhere in the surrounding wetland.
Serial Number 11 made it all over the place!
This is the spot, where LabPadre, NASASpaceflight and Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut have their cameras for live streams.
Look at how close the debris landed.
Some folks got lucky!
Do we still have our cameras? Oh, God.
The fuel farm did not sustain any meaningful damage either and SpaceX can continue their prototyping work at full speed.
No big delay was caused by SN11.
Chapter 11 closed. Onwards to chapter 15, Block 4 Starships and the road to orbit!
SpaceX is known to be extremely fast when it comes to building Starship prototypes.
What you’re looking at here is the fifth fully built prototype already.
Since Starships 12 through 14 were cancelled due to fast development, this one now is number 15.
Since November of last year, we knew, that SN15 would be special.
Even then Musk spoke of major upgrades.
In a recent tweet, Musk even mentioned hundreds of improvements across structure, avionics, software and engines.
So, SN15 can be seen as a milestone Starship.
An important step towards a more mature design.
If SpaceX wants to keep the July 1st goal for a first orbital flight, SN15 will have to do a great job!
And here it is. Our next test candidate and hopefully the one, that finally does a perfect test flight.
And it’s a beauty.
Not many visible changes on the outside besides yet again more heat tiles attached to the hull.
Almost all the structural changes seem to be on the inside.
Mary aka Boca Chica Gal did a stunning job again of capturing the moment for all of us to see.
By now Starship #15 is sitting on Suborbital test pad A and has already done a first ambient pressure test.
A cryogenic proof test is expected next, then a Static fire and then we will be able to witness,
how much those hundreds of improvements compared to Starship #11 will help SpaceX on the road to orbit.
In theory a launch could happen this week, but it’s probably more realistic to expect it for next week or even the week after.
As always it all depends on SpaceX’s success with cryo tests and static fires.
So, what else is left on the to do list for SpaceX to make that orbital flight happen and maybe even within their set time frame?
Let’s find out!
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These are the latest pictures from Mauricio and RGV Aerial Photography.
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His work is incredible! Link is in the description!
These pictures show the south Texas launch site on April 8th, so on Thursday of last week and oh boy has there been progress again!
The first and likely one of seven ground support equipment tanks or short GSE tanks has arrived at the launch site being rolled out similar to
a Starship prototype from the construction site last week.
This tank has a volume of around 1800 cubic meters and even if it might look confusing, it will never fly.
These GSE tanks will be used to store Liquid nitrogen, liquid methane,
liquid oxygen and water to supply the orbital launch mount with the needed commodities for an orbital flight and those holding cryogenic fluids
will likely be insulated as well.
And right next to the needed fuel farm, the orbital launch mount and the support tower are taking shape fast.
The six white pillars that laid dormant for so long now have been graded on top to make a plain fit for the next step possible.
Now that the orbital launch mount pillars have a horizontal top the launch table should be rolled out to the launch site rather soon,
which will give us a very first look at a more finished version of SpaceX’s idea of an orbital launch mount.
Still without a flame diverter and still rather unconventional, but it’s SpaceX we’re talking about.
And right next to the mount, we have the support structure.
And it’s been growing quite a bit.
Rather soon it is supposed to be the tallest structure on site, so even this large base is nothing compared to the final structure.
But how do you build something so large?
With a crane of course! And that crane is being built by cranes right now and technically it then will build a huge crane as that’s one of the
purposes of the finished support tower.
So, we have large cranes building a giant crane, which then builds the largest crane you can imagine.
This base with tracks on each side here belongs to one of the largest cranes Liebherr has to offer.
In 2012 Liebherr performed a stunning trick to impress 2000 of their most important customers.
They showed the audience what a Liebherr is capable of by making cranes lift each other up into the air.
One by one, bigger and bigger until in the end the LR11350 lifted 2 cranes into the air and itself then got lifted up by the even larger LR13000.
This is what SpaceX needs to build their launch support tower.
Also it should give you a good idea as to how big it will be in the end.
Musk even recently tweeted, that the finished tower that will also catch the giant Starship Super Heavy Boosters will look like Mechazilla!
I honestly can’t wait for Mechazilla now!
Mechazilla!
Finally, to be able to do an orbital test flight we of course need flight hardware.
Musk has already stated that Starship number 20 and booster number 3 are supposed to do the flight in July.
Starship number 15, even though it has hundreds of improvements over Starship number 11 won’t be able to do an orbital flight.
A few things are still missing.
This is a picture taken by Mauricio at the construction site.
In particular two very interesting things can be spotted here.
A Super Heavy Booster Aft dome and a Starship Aft dome pathfinder.
On the super heavy aft dome tons of holes can be spotted.
Those are outlets for 28 Raptor engines.
Oxygen and Methane are being routed through these openings from the main tanks to the engines.
40 holes on the outer ring for 20 engines and another 8 engines in the middle.
Enough for a full-fledged orbital flight.
If this is the dome for booster number 3 the intent is clear.
This is supposed to fly much higher than 150 meters or 10 kilometers.
Right next to that we can see another rather strange engine dome.
This time it’s for Starship development and it’s a pathfinder.
A piece of hardware manufactured to find out how to later build the real deal.
It has that outer hole ring. Same as the super Heavy aft dome.
Likely a test run for the dome we just looked at.
More interestingly though it has two large holes and one that’s already covered with some sort of adapter.
That of course is an adapter for a Vacuum engine.
Orbital Starships will have three sea level Raptor engines in the middle of the thrust dome and three much larger vacuum Raptors surrounding them
on the outer ring of the dome.
So, SpaceX is fit checking adapters for Vacuum Raptor engines right now.
All this is direct preparation for orbital flights.
So, even though SpaceX technically has not landed a single Starship safely yet, they’re full steam ahead towards that orbital flight.
Are they able to make the July 1st goal?
What do you think? Tell me in the comments!
Do you remember this mystery structure?
SpaceX has worked on it a lot recently and it definitely isn’t for anything that was speculated before.
SpaceX has placed the cut of nose section into it and heavily modified it.
Tension rods, a massive cap on top.
All sorts of torture equipment.
And that’s not even all!
Mary filmed SpaceX lowering a hydraulic ram into the cone before the nose cap was put on top.
So, there even is torture equipment on the inside.
This structure most likely is for stress testing.
Specifically, to stress test the nose cone and the forward flaps.
As soon as SpaceX attempts orbital test flights, Starships will be subjected to much higher stress levels than they are right now.
MaxQ, reentry and let’s not forget about a possible starship catch attempt in the end.
All this will put tremendous amounts of stress on the construction and that over and over again over the cause of a Starship life.
This machine might simulate just that.
Maybe even until it fails, to see, how long such a nose can take the beating.
Yet again another perfect example for SpaceX going completely unconventional ways out of sheer necessity.
If you want to reuse something, you have to do these kinds of tests.
For Aircraft manufacturers, and a Starships requirements can be compared to an airliner in many ways, this is a standard procedure.
Here you can see Engineers test the mechanical load tolerance of an Airbus A380.
Since the vehicle is being used again and again and maintenance is supposed to be as low as possible, these kinds of tests are mandatory.
What if we’re looking at the rocket equivalent here?
Of course, no one would have identified it as such right away, because that has never been seen before.
But, if you want to utilize a rocket in a similar way as you do an airliner, you’d need something similar.
SpaceX has also been very busy progressing on the heat shield tiles of Starships.
SN15 has lots of them and this is a part of Starship number 16 which seems to have even more, continuing the trend.
But will Starship number 20, the one to go to Orbit according to Musk, have a full heat shield?
This is a part of Starship number 20.
The big one to go to low earth orbit for the first time.
To be precise it’s the leg skirt, so the part that is all the way on the bottom.
According to a little overview schematic attached to this SN20 leg skirt not all of Starship number 20 will be covered with heat tiles.
If this graphic is correct, the leg skirt itself will receive tiles and the complete fairing section minus the cone.
So, SN20 might either attempt a reentry with a partial heat shield or might not be recovered at all.
Musk tweeted two weeks ago,
that SN20 and onwards will be orbit capable with heat shield & stage separation system and that the ascent success probability will be high.
However, SN20 and onwards will probably need many flight attempts to survive the Mach 25 entry heating and land intact.
Last but not least, there’s one more technological crossover from one of Musks projects to another one.
Carter Goode took an incredible picture you’re looking at right now.
It shows Starship number 15 and it also shows what looks to be a Starlink dish attached flat to the hull.
On top of that,
SpaceX has requested a temporary license to use a Starlink terminal within 5 km of Boca Chica on an experimental basis at altitudes not exceeding
12.5 km starting on April 20th and for 60 days.
Starship number 15 will have broad band internet available during flight.
It’s unknown, what exactly SpaceX will be using the data link for, but it simply could just be a test to see,
if Starlink antennas can be used on a Starship.
Thanks go out to TankWatchers for bringing it to our attention.
As a side note, this gives us a solid indicator, that a Starship number 15 flight will occur on or after April 20th and likely not before.
So, is it realistic, that SpaceX will do an orbital test flight on or shortly after July 1st?
It’s tough, but they might be able to make it happen.
The only thing missing for that is a booster and a largely finished orbital launch pad including support tower and tank farm.
If it doesn’t happen, they’re not that far off.
5 more Starship high altitude tests and then a first orbital flight test.
Boca Chica is buzzing!
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Today’s Team shout out goes to the whole captions and subtitles team for making my day, when I released my second Dear Moon application video.
It is available in 13 different subtitles.
14 was already done, but apparently YouTube doesn’t accept Hawaiian as a subtitle language.
Shame on you, YouTube! This is a testament for how diverse and helpful the WAI family can be!
Thank you for being with us! You rock!