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What are the differences between SpaceX’s Starship SN10 and SN15?
What are all the changes, Musk talks about?
And why is SpaceX disassembling their Super Heavy booster again?
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
These are some fast-paced times for the Space Industry.
Development everywhere. Innovation,
funding on an unprecedented level even from the private sector and on top of all that we have SpaceX building the biggest rocket in human history.
SpaceX’s Starship is supposed to be orbital towards the middle of this year.
An internal goal is aiming for July 1st and even though this might seem very fast,
it could still be possible that SpaceX makes that first orbital flight happen shortly after.
To achieve this, Starship #15 is supposed to improve on many things.
Hundreds of internal improvements.
Structural, avionics, engines, software.
Everything has been developed further to get closer to the final design.
I have been busy analyzing Starship number 15 for you to show the visual differences between 10 which was still a block 3 Starship and 15 which
now according to my internal classification would be a block 4 Starship.
The next step in the evolution.
So, let’s do this. SN10 vs. SN15!
Here we are. SN15 on the left and SN10 on the right for a direct comparison.
Pictures provided by Mauricio from RGV Aerial Photography!
Amazing job! A link to his Twitter and Patreon can be found in the description!
Alright! Let’s do this top to bottom to not miss anything.
All the way on top, what seems to be the upper header tank vent has been changed in design.
Vents have been moved all the way into the nose tip.
Then,
the handling points at which SpaceX workers attach cranes to lift up the Starship at several stages of construction have changed from a round
design to an elongated one. Faster handling times will shave off some hours!
Continuing further down on the Nose, weld marks have changed quite a bit.
Y shaped marks that weren’t even there on SN10 have appeared on 15 and others have been rearranged.
This shows that there is quite a bit of internal change here which other than by the weld marks is invisible from the outside.
On we go. Compared to SN10 the aerodynamic covers on the forward flaps have changed quite a bit.
Different shape and they seem to attach better to the hull.
Overall a much cleaner look.
Jumping down to the top dome area where plumbing and all sorts of other details can be found, many things have changed as well.
These ports have been added. The Starlink antenna for testing purposes has been added.
Directly above it we can see some v shaped weld marks again, missing on SN10 and indicating more internal design changes.
And finally, the raceway has been changed a lot.
Much cleaner looking and with an extra pipe leading into the ch4 tank.
I am tempted to say that the extra pipe might have to do with header tank pressurization.
Everything here has matured a lot compared to the rough look on SN10.
Even further down the hull, following the much cleaner raceway and plumbing, the sensor setup on the hull has changed in many places.
Here, SpaceX has switched from one to two sensors.
Looking to the side, where the Aft fins start, we can see major changes on the aero covers.
This looks like a completely different design altogether to change the airflow.
An extra hinge seems to have been added as well, previously not visible on SN10.
Jumping back into the middle of the hull, basically everything is different.
Silver heat insulation material present on SN10 is missing on the cable work on SN15.
The cables attach to the hull in a position much more to the left.
Autogenous pressurization pipes coming from the engines and carrying hot gas from the turbo pumps to be fed into the tanks again for pressurization
attach in a completely different position.
This can be an indicator for a different engine setup or different plumbing inside the engine bay.
Since SN15 uses a different thrust puck design as well, this change might be connected to it.
And again, as in many other places of the hull, different weld marks can be seen on SN15 compared to SN10 also in the engine section.
Again, due to components on the inside added, left out or positioned differently.
That’s quite a bit of change. It’s going to be very interesting to see how SN15 performs.
And we won’t have to wait much longer either.
Aiming for a launch next week!
4/20 anyone?
I guess, I’ll get everything ready for another epic launch stream!
SpaceX’s testing frequency is increasing dramatically.
As seen on this chart made by BocaCharts on Twitter the increase in speed can be seen clearly.
Where SN9 needed 42 days from rollout to launch, SN10 needed only 33 days and SN11 22.
If SpaceX launches SN15 next week Friday, which would be the latest possible date before the weekend,
we’d land at 16 days which would bring the time needed down to a little more than two weeks.
If it launches early next week the two weeks mark would fall for the first time.
Just hypothetically speaking, if SpaceX keeps this frequency up, we’d be talking about another 18 possible Starship launches in 2021.
That would bring us to a mind boggling SN33 for Christmas.
And that’s not counting Super Heavy boosters which are being produced in parallel right now.
Speaking of Super Heavy Boosters.
We already have to say goodbye to the first one.
As it is almost tradition at SpaceX, the first prototype is always just to look at and to do some training with it.
That’s Booster number 1. Never meant to fly and now SpaceX is already getting rid of it.
No transport to the launch site, no obvious handling tests done either.
Just built and taken apart again.
And as SpaceX is quick with everything it seems; the booster already has been taken to the scrap yard behind the construction site piece by piece.
And another one… It’s sad to see it leave like this, but it opens space for the next one.
Never get too attached to a prototype.
Its end is always around the corner.
And while Booster number 1’s end has come, SN15 is working on its grand performance.
To show the world, how much it has improved from SN10.
First cryogenic testing was done early this week and everything looked perfect.
Business as usual. Liquid nitrogen was pumped first into the oxygen tank and then into the upper methane tank.
Interrupted by several strong vents to stress test the system.
Frost built up on the outside, indicating that this was a test at flight pressure with completely filled up tanks.
All went well. No problem at all.
Long gone are the days, when even a cryogenic test would cause stress and hyperventilation amongst us Starship fans.
SpaceX knows by now how to build a pressure vessel that can withstand the needed numbers.
And yes, they’re not building it in a clean room and yes, it’s made like a grain silo and yes, it all worked out in the end.
Keep that in mind, when saying that SpaceX might not succeed with all this.
So far so good.
As said earlier, a launch is expected to happen next week and I’ll of course stream the whole thing again to watch it together with you!
Keep a look out for a stream reminder!
Now, let’s see, what we can expect from a first Super Heavy Booster flight and what kind of Progress SpaceX has made towards the orbital flight!
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Now that Booster Number 1 is gone, it opens up the way for Booster Number 2. The first one to actually perform tests.
Replying to Adam Klotz on Twitter on March 30th, Musk clarified again, that BN1 was a production Pathfinder.
That they’ve learned a lot and that BN2 would fly.
Maybe even to orbit. And maybe even on an orbital pad and all that by the end of April.
Now that sounds like a lot.
This is Booster Number 2 and a huge thank you goes to 3D Daniel from the WAI family for providing us with this animation!
Well done! Cut in half it reveals the inside tank structure.
Methane on the bottom, oxygen on top.
Daniel has decided to give the booster 4 engines as 28 seem to be a little out of reach right now and until the end of April.
So, if SpaceX opts for 4 engines and a 150 meter hop, this is what it would look like.
The internal tank structure is similar to a Starship.
No header tanks though and the main tanks switched.
Methane is on the bottom here.
As soon as the ignition occurs, the 4 Raptor engines start propelling the booster into the air.
In this case with a slightly different flight profile compared to first Starship test flights.
SN5 had asymmetric thrust due to one engine propelling the vehicle.
This created a very distinctive tilted flight path.
BN2 won’t need that. No matter, how many engines SpaceX ends up putting under the first booster,
they won’t have to go with an uneven number and so the booster will perform a much less tilted flight path.
And since all this by now is proven technology, we don’t expect problems either and so the booster lands just fine on the pad.
That’s it. A first demonstration flight for a Super Heavy Booster and what it could look like when it happens.
Do you agree? Is there anything you’d add?
As always, tell me in the comments!
Neopork has been working on his version of a fully equipped booster as well and has provided us with a render of what it will look like when a
Super Heavy Booster is performing the final landing burn.
No legs. Still no solid information from Musk as to what exactly the catch mechanism will look like.
A tiny piece of equipment needed for Booster Number 2 has been spotted by Mary aka BocaChicaGal at the construction site!
Thank you Mary! It is the first ever spotted complete Super Heavy Grid fin!
Smaller than the initial design it still is a giant and in combination with three other fins it will be able to steer a booster when returning
back to the launch site. We should see first use of these on an upcoming booster high altitude flight test.
And SpaceX is working hard to make it all happen.
The launch site right now is one giant construction site with hundreds of workers working on about the same amount of projects it seems.
As seen from the air through the lens of RGV Aerial Photography the sheer size of the construction site becomes visible.
Several Buildings, a new unknown foundation next to the landing pad,
the orbital launch tower and a fuel farm that will be double the capacity of what the suborbital test pads have to offer.
The same goes for the old sanchez site, where SpaceX has been reshaping the terrain for propellant production.
Oxygen and possibly even Methane will be produced on site to feed the launches.
And since we’re talking about another possible 18 launches this year alone, the site has to be large.
Huge Storage tanks are being prepared on site.
More and more of the large silver domes are being produced and recently also the tank walls have started production.
SpaceX workers have started producing ring segments at the refinery site.
No doubt for the storage tanks and stacking has already started.
Who would have thought, that the knowledge of building steel tanks could be utilized in so many places at the launch complex?
And the refinery column itself is growing larger and larger as well.
There is no doubt, that SpaceX is taking all this very seriously.
Another amazing sighting has been filmed by Starship Gazer.
A link to his channel can be found in the description!
He was in the right spot at the right time to film a semi truck going down highway 4 towards the launch site carrying a very special structure
piece. This is the first of many segments for the orbital launch support tower to arrive on site.
A massive steel construction that in the end will tower around 140 meters into the air above Boca Chica.
As seen in the footage, the concrete and steel foundation for the tower is already finished and now the stacking begins.
The square segments will be stacked on top in each corner, forming the frame for the steel construction.
In the end, according to Musk, this structure is also supposed to catch Boosters and maybe even Starships out of mid air for a safe return.
And all this is supposed to be finished by July 1st.
Looking at all this, it doesn’t seem like SpaceX would have any doubts as to the success of their prototyping program.
It just seems to be a matter of time, before Starships regularly fly to orbit and beyond.
Their confidence in something that has never been done before can be seen as something absolutely unique.
Serial Number 15 is just the next step in quick succession.
I would love to see them succeed.
Let’s cross our fingers for SN15, BN2, SN16, and all the other test candidates to come this year.
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Today’s team shout out goes to Justinni and Mr. Astronautical for being such a dedicated part of the captions team!
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