SpaceX radically changing the Super Heavy Starship booster design.
But can a booster be a wing? How do the physics work, and is this even doable?
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!
Super Heavy Redesign
We’re heading towards some exciting times at Starbase, Texas.
With the FAA approval not too far out anymore, if everything goes right this time,
SpaceX is in full-on development mode to get some flight-worthy and upgraded hardware ready for testing.
But before we get to one of the most significant booster design changes so far and the reasons behind them,
let’s look at a possible explanation for the increasing amount of cryogenic proof tests at Starbase.
This, for example, didn't make it into the last episode anymore.
It’s worth showing, though, as there is a trend we can take out of this.
It’s from March 3rd, and it shows Ship 20 on its mobile test stand undergoing a cryogenic proof test.
Now, you might say that ship 20 did quite a few tests recently.
Why is this so interesting? It is precisely that.
The frequency with which SpaceX did these cryogenic tests with booster 4 and ship 20 is increasingly high.
On every trial, all goes well, and every time we see the same picture.
They perform perfectly. There must be a reason for SpaceX doing so many recent tests with the two prototypes.
This is just a theory, but my guess is that SpaceX is finally ramping up towards full static fires and a full wet dress rehearsal.
Full static fire, of course, meaning that SpaceX will finally ignite all 29 Raptor engines under Booster 4 and wet dress rehearsal,
meaning that they'll stack the two prototypes again and do everything leading up to a launch minus the actual engine ignition and lift off.
So, Ship 20 and booster 4 will be fully fueled and drained again.
This time with real fuel. Everything as it should be on an actual launch day.
After this, they should, in theory, be ready for a launch.
Again, if they do actually launch Ship 20 and booster 4.
Since these two prototypes were built, a lot has changed, and even more is about to change, as said in the beginning.
Today, Owe from SpaceX 3D creation eccentric, and I will show you something radically new.
A change in SpaceX's approach to building the largest rocket ever.
This is a first at Starbase and a first for reusable rocket boosters, but it'll all make sense after you hear the explanation.
So, stick with me and sit back.
Here's Super Heavy v1.5!
This is how we know the boosters right now,
and it's Owe’s dead accurate animation derived from Elon Musk’s simulation data of a Super Heavy booster returning to the launch site and being
caught by Mechazilla. Owe, Chris from Schiffer Soft, Mo from Senkrechtstarter,
and I spent quite some time reconstructing tons of data points from the animation posted by Elon Musk on Twitter down to the centimeter.
So, this is how we know Super Heavy boosters right now.
All this is about to change, though.
And now, Owe and I will show you how exactly the booster design is about to change.
So, this is a super heavy booster hull, including the engine section as we know it,
and with all the changes that have taken place over time so far.
Straight down. Simple design.
And this is what all the added systems look like on Booster 4. We have HPUs or hydraulic pressure units responsible for hydraulic pressure and
engine ignition, and we have those large COPV's or composite overwrapped pressure vessels, which house gas needed for engine spin-up.
Since such a Super Heavy booster has a lot of engines, SpaceX decided to divide those COPVs into four groups and hence called them Quad skids.
Each two-tank setup is used for a quarter of the engines.
They were mounted all the way on the bottom for convenience and likely also to have the center of mass as low as possible to give the booster
stability when returning back to the launch site after a launch.
If you have a lot of weight on the bottom, the booster falls bottom first and in a stable manner.
Now on March 8th, Chief, the WAI cam operator, was able to take these pictures.
Those are not new dog houses. Those are definitely aero covers.
But what for? Where would SpaceX install these, and why?
Starship Gazer was able to take this picture on the same day.
Show him some love, as this is a fascinating picture!
Links to his Twitter account, channel, and Patreon are in the description.
Now, what you can see in this picture is that SpaceX is radically changing the approach on the COPV configuration.
They’re stacked on the side on Booster 7 compared to the quad skids I explained earlier on Booster 4.
As said, Owe and I have been working together to recreate, what you just saw, and this is it.
5 COPV’s on each side stacked on top of each other and in a straight line going up.
Alright. So far, so good. But why?
Why would SpaceX change the design like this?
Now, the pointy aero covers will very likely be installed like this.
There are some bracings inside the covers to give them stability.
So, they’re very rugged and able to take quite a bit of force.
And finally, the covers on top.
To explain why SpaceX is changing the design like this, we have to dip a bit into physics.
But bear with me. I'll make it work.
This is what it looks like, viewed from below.
Do you see the trick?
Let’s go a bit lower to make it even more visible.
The copv’s are not installed equally in the middle on each side.
Both rows lean towards negative Z or simply put to one side of the booster and the opposite side of the Quick Disconnect plate.
To find out why SpaceX is doing this, we have to look at what this changes on the booster.
Do you know L D control? It’s a metric to describe the efficiency of a wing.
L and D stand for Liftover drag, and it's a concept already used on Falcon 9.
A Rocket engineer once worded it perfectly to me.
Even a brick has some lift at hypersonic speeds.
If a body is moving through our planet's atmosphere fast enough, it will produce lift at the right angle.
Even a Rocket booster can, to some extent, be a wing of some sort.
On Falcon 9, this is done to increase the cross-range capability.
And it's the same reason why SpaceX is now doing it on a Super Heavy.
Let’s look at the booster from another angle to better see what those COPVs will do.
These triangles are the new COPV setup with the covers on top.
By stacking them on top of each other and shifting them to one side, the booster gets more wind resistance on one side.
Now, imagine the booster flying through the air and down towards Mechazilla and hopefully a clean catch.
SpaceX then utilizes the grid fins to tilt the booster relative to its direction of travel so that there is relative wind hitting the broadside.
The whole body then starts acting like a wing.
It is much more efficient than just letting it fall down for two reasons.
By increasing the drag on one side and thus creating a small amount of lift, the booster can, so to say,
soar through the atmosphere traveling above ground and reducing the speed at the same time.
So, the landing burn can be less powerful and the boost back, too, as the rocket can travel towards the catch site while falling through the atmosphere.
Adding those chines, that’s what they’re called,
allows SpaceX to increase the length of the lift vector without affecting the drag vector by much.
For those really interested in the physics behind it, here's a little graph to explain it the school way.
The fins apply torque on top.
You have drag from the booster and lift from the body traveling through the atmosphere at the center of mass.
Drag pulls up, lift pulls into the angle of attack.
In combination, the two create net aerodynamic force.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if SpaceX even decides to add strakes on the sides of the boosters,
similar to what we can see on New Glen concepts.
This would increase the lift even more and add little weight to the booster.
Of course, this is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.
But if so, hey, you heard it here first!
If you still have questions about the concept, please ask them in the comments.
I'll try to answer as many of them as possible,
and I'll hopefully get some help from those in the community able to describe it even better than I do.
So, let me know in the comments!
I’ll get to it as soon as I can!
This topic is a perfect example of how much work it can be to research a WAI episode.
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As an addon, I have some exciting news from the industry surrounding SpaceX in south Texas.
Green Hydrogen International, a US start-up, is ramping up to be a Methane supplier for SpaceX.
It's called Hydrogen City, and it's supposed to produce vast amounts of Hydrogen from green energy in Texas.
Now, SpaceX’s rockets are not powered by Hydrogen like Blue Origin or ULA’s Delta 4, but by adding CO2, Hydrogen can be turned into Methane.
The plan is to produce Hydrogen and then send it to Brownsville via a pipeline, where it’s then combined with CO2,
ready for SpaceX’s Starships and right around the corner from the launch pads.
It will be centered around a production facility in Duval County, Texas, and a storage facility in the Pintas Salt Dome.
Caverns would be created to store up to 6 terra watt-hours worth of Hydrogen.
A part of it would be transported to Corpus Christi via a pipeline, turned into Ammonia, and sold to the growing market in Asia.
A second pipeline would lead to Brownsville for Methane production.
And the plan right now is to have the first 2-gigawatt step of the project finished in 2026.
In the end, the goal is to make it the single largest green hydrogen hub in the world with 60 gigawatts from renewable solar and wind energy.
The question, how SpaceX would get enough Methane to launch Starships has always been floating around.
Especially since Musk wants it to be carbon neutral.
Green Hydrogen International might be the missing component for SpaceX, and we'll definitely pay close attention as the project unfolds.
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