SpaceX will build thousands of Starship and Super Heavy Raptor engines and they’re starting to do so in the next few months!
Also we’re going to take a look at SpaceX’s latest Starship progress,
a first real Super Heavy test and how they’re currently building the Super Heavy catch mechanism!
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
I haven’t been around for a few days doing some R & R with my kids and anyone who knows the SpaceX Starship program and Elon Musk,
knows that this means loads of new milestones have happened without me covering any of it.
Today’s episode will be packed with new insights,
and I already apologize to Virgin Galactic for not being able to cover their huge milestone and Richard Branson’s flight with VSS Unity.
There’s just too much happening in Boca Chica.
Sorry, Richard! Great job! Well done!
On we go!
And we’re back in Mauricio’s plane flying above Boca Chica, Texas, where 21st century rockets are taking shape for the first time in human history.
Even though Mauricio’s plane doesn’t go anywhere near the Karman line, which is considered to be the edge of space,
it arguably takes the more important pictures when it comes to documenting spaceflight history.
What you’re looking at here is SpaceX’s latest prototype.
Booster 3. The ground handling expert to pave the way for Super Heavy booster 4,
which will then power the ascend of Starship number 20 to go above and beyond the edge of space and do the first orbital flight,
hopefully in August.
It didn’t take SpaceX long to build it and I expect tests to be equally quick.
Even though it won’t actually fly, it’s far more than a dummy.
The shear size of it makes ground testing mandatory to ensure a safe flight.
Nasa Spaceflight has cameras everywhere in Boca Chica.
Check out their channel for more.
It’s worth it. What you’re looking at here is the first ambient pressure test done with Booster 3 on Thursday, July 8th.
It’s incredible to see a Super Heavy booster come to live for the first time ever.
These ambient pressure tests are done to ensure that plumbing, vents and other parts on the booster work as intended.
Are there leaks? Do the valves work properly?
Is the internal system able to perform the necessary operations?
It’s unclear right now, if the booster passed this test but at least from the outside there was no apparent problem visible.
Even though the Starship program has reached an incredible speed compared to any other rocket development out there,
it still very much seems to be on track.
Another proof of SpaceX’s will to make all this happen as fast as possible is this recording directly from LabPadre’s cam feed.
It shows Raptor engine deliveries to suborbital Pad A and to Super Heavy Booster number 3. Raptor engines 57 and 59 to be precise.
57 was installed quickly and 59, installed in the night of July 12th took a bit longer it seems.
The engine was raised into the engine section several times and lowered again until it finally got fixed in place.
Now, these engines likely are being fit checked.
Meaning that the SpaceX workers put them into place to see if everything works out.
After this they will likely be taken out again in preparation for a first cryogenic proof test utilizing SpaceX’s brand new Super Heavy Thrust
simulator or Thrust ram as it’s called by some.
It does look a bit different than the one we’ve seen SpaceX use for their Starship prototypes so far.
It’s taller and it utilizes different hydraulic rams.
Anchored to the ground with large tilted beams which press against the inside of the pad structure,
it can sustain a pressure pushing against the thrust structure from below with equal force to that of the inner 9 Raptor engines that will be
installed on Booster number 4’s thrust puck assembly.
But what about the outer engines that will supply the main amount of thrust for the booster?
Mary aka BocaChicaGal has taken this video of a very special delivery at the SpaceX construction site.
It’s a Raptor engine with a rather strange writing on the engine bell.
Where on all the other engines so far it just stated a number of which engine we’re looking at,
this one has the letters R and B in front of the number.
This created quite the confusion in the Starship community and Elon Musk himself of course was ready to help out with some latest information
on Twitter. Let me try to unravel some of the confusion for you.
Jack Beyer asked, what the point of a special boost engine is, if it has the same thrust as a standard Raptor.
Musk replied saying that the center engines on a Starship will be the same as the booster engines.
What you’re looking at here is one of those Raptor boost engines.
It’s been redesigned for one purpose.
The bet part is no part. Simplify the construction as much as possible.
The outer engine ring is fixed, but it can throttle.
Musk’s plan up until now was that the fixed outer engines,
so those that are not able to move around to control the thrust vector and thus the flight path of the rocket, would not only be fixed,
but also different in design. The plan was to reduce the throttle capability and in return increase the thrust.
This would have resulted in a different engine design.
The new plan according to Musk is to have all engines be the same with one exception.
The RVac or Raptor Vacuum engine.
All other engines would be virtually the same.
Jus the mounting points for the fixed engines would be different.
But the throttle capability and the thrust would be the same.
230 tons of thrust per engine and with even more engines again.
The new engine count for Super Heavy will be 32 to 33 engines.
This would result in 7600 tons of thrust and a thrust to weight ratio of around 1.5 which is crazy good considering the size of the rocket.
It will be a 120-meter-tall rocket and it won’t lift of slowly.
It will be capable of quite the acceleration right of the pad.
Jumping back to Jack Beyers tweet Musk also mentioned that there is a significant change in the Starship design as well.
They’re considering adding 3 extra engines,
bringing the total count up to 3 sea level Raptor 2 engines which have the common design and a total of 6 vacuum engines.
This would put the Starship alone at 2000 tons of thrust with a thrust to weight ration of an insane 1.7 when fully fueled.
Those are some truly astonishing numbers.
Musk wasn’t done dishing out more and more information though.
One Speed was quick to make a mock-up on Twitter.
This is what the new engine layout would look like.
33 Raptor 2 engines on the Super Heavy booster.
13 gimbal capable and 20 fixed but all with 230 tons of thrust and full throttle capability.
And on the Starship it would result in the said 6 fixed and slightly different vacuum raptors and 3 Raptor 2 engines in the middle.
Next up we’ll look into how exactly Musk is planning to produce all the engines needed to build a colony on Mars and we’ll have an awesome update
from Alex Svan on what the catch mechanism for a Super Heavy booster might look like!
Remember the yellow pipes?
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And we’re not done yet with insane plans and milestones revealed by Musk regarding the new workhorse Raptor engine.
I’ve talked a lot about Starship mass production on my episodes before but there’s one blank spot left.
How is SpaceX planning to produce 10 thousand raptor engines in the next 10 years?
Because that’s the number of engines that would be roughly needed to build and operate 1000 Starships and 200 boosters in the next 10 years.
It all started with this picture tweeted out by Elon Musk.
It shows 10 Raptor engines and one RVac in one of the SpaceX Boca Chica Starbase production tents.
It’s at least part of SpaceX’s current stockpile of engines at the Starship construction site.
Not all of them are flight capable.
Engin e number 27 for example all the way on the right is stripped down and likely never to fly again.
It’s been used on Starship SN5.
One of the first engines to propel a full starship tank section to 150 meters.
The others though look much more recent.
Engine 59 can be seen. It has already been fit checked for Booster 3. Three of the boost engines can also be seen.
They can be told apart by the different top setup.
No gimbal, other mounting points.
But basically the same engine as the gimbal capable ones.
And of course the massive vacuum raptor in the background of which parts of the engine bell can be seen.
So, SpaceX already has quite a few engines laying around for upcoming static fires and the orbital test flight later this summer,
still it’s not anywhere near 10000 for the next 10 years which would be the timeframe in which SpaceX is planning to build the Starships needed
for their Mars city. 10000 because 1000 Starships proposed by Musk would need 3000 non vacuum engines and if they build one booster every 5 Starships,
that would be another 6600 engines.
Rounded up for ease of use it would be a staggering 10k engines with the new and updated engine layout.
Currently, SpaceX is producing its Merlin engine,
the Draco and Super Draco thrusters for their Dragon capsules and the new Raptor engines at their Headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
The pictures you’re looking at here are an official tour given by Elon Musk in 2010.
The place has changed quite a bit from back then.
In fact, there’s not much space left here.
Pun intended. Due to SpaceX’s colossal success the facility is likely running at capacity now.
Growing from 160 employees in 2006 to over 9500 in February of 2021.
However, all this won’t be enough to feed the Starship program and Elon Musk’s efforts of building a self-sustained colony on Mars by 2050.
We are breaking ground soon on a second Raptor factory at SpaceX Texas test site.
This will focus on volume production of Raptor 2, while California factory will make Raptor Vacuum and new, experimental designs.
With SpaceX Texas test site, Elon Musk means this.
SpaceX’s primary test site for all sorts of engines.
Located near the town of McGregor, it’s known for occasional loud engine roars and has been for some time and it will grow soon.
The proposed engine production facility would need to be at least as big as the department in Hawthorne, maybe even more extensive.
Roughly 800 to 1000 engines per year.
That’s about what’s needed over ten years to create the fleet to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.
The city itself probably takes roughly 20 years, so it’s hopefully built by circa 2050.
As a little comparison, the biggest construction project outside of Earth’s atmosphere of all times, the International Space Station or ISS,
took 10 years and more than 30 missions to complete and weighs in at only 420 tons.
150 billion dollars estimated price tag.
SpaceX on the other hand is proposing an entire City within 20 years on another planet.
Those 1000 Starships, if none of them returns to Earth, which of course won’t be the case,
would be capable of carrying at least 100.000 tons of payload to Mars.
For a total of 2 billion dollars in launch costs.
In return, 2 billion dollars would have paid for 4 Space Shuttle launches at an estimated price tag of 450 million per launch.
Don’t you love talking numbers about SpaceX projects?
It’s surreal. On we go with another insane SpaceX Starship project.
The famous booster catch mechanism.
You’re looking at RGV’s birds eye view again from July 1st.
It’s the most recent aerial picture there is right now.
It shows the SpaceX landing pad,
barely recognizable right now as it’s partly covered with dirt and lots of construction equipment needed to build the orbital launch site at full
on rush mode. Specifically I want to direct your view at the yellow piping again.
SpaceX has been busy here for some time now on what’s supposed to be a fueling arm for Starships sitting on the orbital launch mount.
But what if it is more than that?
What if it’s actually a part of the booster catching mechanism?
Alex Svan has been busy with a few other people, trying to assemble the parts ahead of SpaceX.
And this is what they came up with.
Alex, you rock! Actuated arms, mounted on the orbital launch support tower.
Capable of swiveling out and of going up and down utilizing a rail system attached to the tower.
As stated by Musk before,
Alex also added a shock absorption mechanism to the construction to soften the catch and to minimize damage and stress to a booster while being caught out of mid air.
Connected via steel cables to the top of the tower and back down over the top to the already installed Drawworks at the base of the tower,
it would be able to move quickly.
As said on Episode 171 on June 18th, this system has a total of 6000 horsepowers and it weighs 74 metric tons.
It has a maximum of 16 lines and a maximum hook load of 1245 tons.
And it can quickly stop large loads with huge disc brakes, move them up or down… basically anything you’d need a catch mechanism to do.
What do you think? Are we on the right track here?
Are those yellow pipes a catch mechanism for the boosters?
As always, tell us in the comments!
We’re eager to hear your thoughts!
Musk wants to build Starships to make us multiplanetary.
He wants to do this because he believes that the window of opportunity for such an endeavor might be limited in time.
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