SpaceX building expendable Starships?
NASA’s SLS not launching as expected?
Crew Dragon pushing out Starliner?
Let’s dive right in!
My name is Felix, and I am your host for today's episode of What about it.
It’s been two weeks since our last episode.
Partly due to Artemis and NASA’s SLS and partly due to us preparing for possibly the biggest thing we’ve done so far on the channel.
We’ll get into both topics and Starliner's future later, but for now, let’s start this one with a good old Starship update, shall we?
Starship Updates
Thanks, Cheese! Go Harlem Globetrotters!
SpaceX has made great progress,
but they’re feeling more and more pressure to actually launch a Starship to orbit and to turn their spectacular Starship development program into a feasible business.
And that means crunch time. It’s hard to imagine how many work hours are currently poured into all this.
Ship 24 and Booster 7 are undergoing almost daily testing at the moment.
Four shifts per day with a workforce that could fill a small town.
Finding out what’s still missing for an orbital launch is not that easy.
There’s not much official information from SpaceX, so we can only make educated guesses.
Booster 7’s and Ship 24’s hardware are ready.
Both have undergone cryo testing, spin testing, and static fires.
All engines are installed, the chopsticks have been tested with a booster 7 lift, and the OLM is in the final stages of construction.
What’s missing are a full booster 7 static fire, a full stack cryo test, and the FAA launch license.
To put checkmarks behind those remaining items,
SpaceX must finish the static fire tests and stack Ship 24 onto Booster 7. And the dedication to do so can be seen in the announced road closures.
You don’t really have to look them up right now.
Expect tests every day. Name one other rocket development program that has tests on its pads every day.
SpaceX is setting new record marks.
The last notable static fire as of recording this episode occurred on August 31st.
Two engines were fired. A third one was spun up but didn’t reach ignition.
Welcome to SpaceX’s greatest challenge before the launch.
Lighting 33 Raptor engines likely in a staged ignition.
This is a complex task to master.
Meanwhile Ship 24 had an unsuccessful static fire the same day.
The problem on Ship 24 seems to have been related to a vacuum Raptor.
Mauricio from RGV Aerial was at Starbase while Chief was in Florida to join us for Artemis 1,
and he took pictures of one of the RVac engines being removed from Ship 24.
A close-up inspection shows a ruptured CH4 pipe.
This might have been caused by previous static fires,
and it raises the question once again why SpaceX has not implemented a proper flame diverter under its test and launch pads.
A replacement engine has already gone out to the pad on September 3rd, so static fires should be able to continue.
You can easily differentiate sea-level Raptors from vacuum Raptors by the much larger engine nozzle needed to have an optimal expansion rate in a vacuum environment.
Another very interesting change in SpaceX’s tactic to turn Starships profitable as soon as possible can be seen on Ship 26.
Ryer from the Ring Watchers has made some very interesting observations.
This is Ship 26’s forward section.
It was sleeved on August 8th, and it is missing a major detail.
It has no heat shield pins.
Those little pins you can find on any Starship segment that is supposed to receive a heat shield eventually.
Again, this is Ship 26’s forward dome section.
So, right in the middle of a Starship hull.
This should be full of those pins, but it is not.
After such a section is sleeved, it normally directly goes into Tent number 3 to receive those pins.
Since then, Ship 26’s forward dome section has moved into tent number 3, but there's something else strange about Ship 26.
This is Ship 26’s Nose cone, also in Tent number 3. And Chief’s pictures show SpaceX heat tile technicians removing the tiles from the nose cone.
This is weird, to say the least.
This is all unconfirmed and highly speculative, but is SpaceX planning on making expendable Starships?
Removing the Heatshield and maybe even the flaps would turn it into an expendable, quicker, and cheaper to make version,
which would just deploy Starlink Satellites and then burn up in the atmosphere.
This would greatly accelerate the development toward profitability and still be much cheaper than a Falcon 9. What do you think?
Is SpaceX building a quick and dirty expendable Starship?
As always, let me know in the comments and connect with me on Instagram and Twitter @Felixschlang to discuss it!
Next up we have some strange news about Crewed launches.
Is Starliner out?
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So, on August 31st, NASA awarded SpaceX 1.4 billion Dollars for 5 more Crew Dragon missions towards the ISS.
This new contract is a modification to the already existing contract and it extends the agreement by Crew 10 to 14.
It represents another 20 spacecraft seats.
While this, of course, is great news for SpaceX, boosting the total contract to 4.9 billion dollars from NASA, it raises some important questions.
Is Starliner out, or will it still fly, and if so, when?
With SpaceX fulfilling more and more of the Commercial Crew Program,
which was started in 2014 and was originally thought to be completed by both SpaceX and Boeing, Starliner almost seems forgotten by now.
An unsuccessful mission in 2019 and system failures on the second attempt in 2022 do not cast a good light on the program.
But the vehicle is not dead at all.
On August 25th, NASA announced another delay to CFT, the next mission in the program.
CFT stands for crewed flight test, and it is supposed to finally do what Starliner is made for.
Ferry the first two Astronauts to the ISS for a seven-day trip to low Earth orbit.
Previously scheduled for December of 2022, the mission was now delayed to February 2023 due to the team needing more work on the Starliner Systems.
This pushes the flight date for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams out by two more months,
but NASA and Boeing are still working towards the first crewed flight of CST100 Starliner.
Artemis Update
Now, let’s get back to some bigger rockets again.
You’ve likely heard the news by now.
SLS will take some more time to launch.
But how much exactly?
We went! I mean… we are going!
NASA Invited Stefanie and me in.
NASA Social is what it’s called, and we were and still are part of the Artemis 1 social event.
And oh boy, where SLS didn’t deliver so far, NASA sure did for us.
We went to all sorts of strange and spectacular places.
Things you and I know of, but have you ever been there?
This is NASA’s VAB or Vehicle assembly building.
Taller than Mechazilla. Taller than anything I could have imagined.
We went in with NASA and were able and allowed to record and take incredible pictures of the place where all Apollo Missions,
all shuttle missions, and now Artemis missions are being built.
It was an incredible honor to be allowed in, and let me tell you,
this building is even larger on the inside than you could imagine in your wildest dreams.
This is ancient spaceflight holy ground, and NASA allowed us to walk in.
NASA also invited us to take a look at their Crawler Transporter 1. We walked under the vehicle to get a feeling for the hardware.
We had a chat with one of the drivers and exchanged some thoughts and ideas.
We met with almost every high-ranking NASA official.
From Bill Nelson, acting NASA administrator, who petted me on the shoulder to Bob Cabana, Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of NASA Science, CSA,
and US Astronauts. We met all of them and again had even time to chat with them.
Especially for us as foreign nationals, this was unbelievably nice.
What NASA and their Social team did there was just outright stunning and deserves some extra praise.
So, team NASA Social, you rock!
Of course, we also went to the press site for both launch attempts.
On August 29th, we took off from our house at around midnight to head out to the press site, and we had the best seats in town.
NASA positioned the social team all the way in front of everyone else.
Again, NASA rocks. Everything was set up for the launch.
Equipment like our new ZCam rig, entirely funded by our Patrons, which we made specifically for this launch, was brought in place, and we,
of course, did some test recordings.
It’s mesmerizing to see SLS on the pad.
I have been waiting for this launch for a long time, and I can’t wait for the day when it will finally takes flight.
This was not the day, though.
On September 3rd, we went out again.
The same routine as last time and again, our view was spectacular.
Seeing the giant rocket vent in the distance was stunning.
One of NASA’s guests for the Artemis 1 social is Chris Sembroski, or Hanks as he likes to be called.
Let me tell you one thing about him.
He’s really is inspiring. Being with him and all the others was such a unique experience.
We had two Harlem globe trotters with us.
One of which you’ve already seen twice on today’s episode.
The team space spirit out there was infectious!
But again, SLS did not launch.
The reason on the first attempt was a hydrogen bleed valve on Main Engine number 3. The second time it was a problem with the 8-inch hydrogen
quick disconnect. A cavity was spotted between the ground side and rocket side plates surrounding the quick disconnect.
SLS is a troublemaker, but most rockets that roll out for a first launch are.
The question is just when NASA will try again.
NASA technicians are currently assessing the situation,
and then a decision will be made whether to replace the broken QD parts on the pad where they could be tested under cryogenic temperatures or
inside the VAB. No matter the decision,
NASA will have to roll SLS back into the VAB before the next launch attempt due to the Flight termination system needing a battery reset.
The expiration date for those FTS batteries is 25 days, and to meet the requirements set by the eastern range for the certification,
SLS will have to hit the road once again.
This alone moves the next flight attempt quite a bit into the future.
We’re not talking days, but at least weeks for another try at getting Artemis on its way towards the Moon.
Fingers crossed for NASA! Now, as said all the way at the beginning of this episode, we’re planning something big.
WAI is hitting the road too. On an epic trek towards the history of Spaceflight and find out what led to the so-called New Space movement in the
first place. Our Model WAI will leave Florida on September 8th with a convoy of vehicles.
We will stop in Stennis, Michoud, Pascagoula, Houston, McGregor, and Austin, and our final stop will be Starbase, Texas.
Along the way, we will meet industry insiders and interview partners.
We will ride in boats, fly planes and drive our car to total exhaustion to film for you how we went from Apollo to Polaris.
Why humanity is striving to explore, no matter how hard the task.
Along the way, I will produce episodes on location and keep you updated on our social media channels.
Stay tuned for an epic ride!
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Last, but not least, we’re looking to fill another position on team WAI.
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Bringing you the next WAI episode!
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That’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed it and wish you a fantastic rest of your day!
Until next time, ad Astra!