Starship Updates – Pics or… it didn’t happen: Rocket Lab’s 13th launch
My name is Felix and I am your host for today’s Episode of what about it!?
And as always, there has been a lot going on in the Space industry lately, so let’s dive right in!
Starship Updates Boca Chica Texas is preparing for the next big event already.
SpaceX’s Starship Serial Number 5 is going through the first preparations, maybe even for a launch and today
we’ll take a look at what a Starship Prototype has to go through
after assembly, to qualify as a flight candidate. The first hurdle, a Starship prototype has to pass before
attempting a flight, or hop if it’s a flight with low altitude, is the so-called pressure testing.
It’s a whole series of tests to make sure, the tanks can hold the pressure needed for operation.
This first test is divided into two segments: The ambient or room temperature
test, followed by the dreaded pressure test at cryogenic temperatures.
Starship Serial Number 5 is no different here. After rolling the test stack from the construction site out to the launch site,
SpaceX workers as usual put it on the test stand, attached fuel lines and thrust simulator and put it through its paces.
The Thrust simulator is a large hydraulic
press beneath the prototype, pressing against the thrust puck while the tests are conducted to simulate the thrust generated
by firing Raptor engines under the Starship as it would be under flight conditions.
Serial Number 5 passed the ambient temperature test without any problems and so the Boca Chica crew proceeded to
cryogenic temperature testing. The biggest difference between
ambient temperature and cryo test is that the nitrogen is cooled down to a temperature of around -200
didn't
degrees -200 degrees Celsius.
Liquid nitrogen is used, as it’s inert and thus can be used without the risk of an explosion if a rupture occurs. On a
rocket, oxidizer and propellant are loaded at cryogenic temperatures to increase the density.
There’s one very important factor, SpaceX is especially interested in these tests. That's my German accent.
Sometimes it comes thru. Let’s just slice open a Starship and see, what’s actually on the inside, shall we?
Don’t worry, no Starship got harmed while filming this episode. On top
we have the oxygen tank and on the bottom the methane tank.
Both tanks are being tested at room and at cryogenic temperatures. Since this is a very shiny looking model,
let’s see, what these parts look like in real life. On
the left we have the tank stack with the two main tanks inside. In the middle is the fairing skirt
and on the right we have the nose
cone. Serial Number 5 right now does not have a nose cone or fairing section and most likely won’t receive any either. And this is, what
these parts look like from the inside.
Again, we have two main tanks for oxidizer and propellant and a header tank in the middle. The header tanks contain the landing propellant.
They are separate in order to have greater
insulation and minimize boil-off, avoid sloshing on entry and having to pressure up the whole main tank. That’s it.
I hope, this illustration helped you, to better understand what’s going on inside of a Starship! And
Everything went smoothly during the cryogenic testing of Starship Serial Number 5. Liquid nitrogen
was filled into both methane and oxygen tanks and the pressure was brought up. The structure withstood the levels and the prototype showed, that it’s
ready to proceed. The Starship was detanked and this concluded the test activity. Good news for everyone involved.
Next up after a cryogenic test are wet dress rehearsal and a series of static fires.
This means, that a Raptor engine, the full flow staged combustion methalox engine specially developed for use with
Starships and Super Heavy boosters, has to be mounted on the prototypes thrust puck. And SpaceX had one to spare.
Raptor Serial Number 27 was
transported to the construction site late last week and workers began mounting the engine right away.
This all seems routine by now, as we’ve been at this point a few times before.
Next up we’ll see a Raptor in action. Test dates have already been announced and so in theory
we should see some action at the Boca Chica Launch site with tomorrows primary test date and backups on Thursday and Friday.
So, with a little luck we’ll have the static fire on Fridays episode! As always, a busy week in Boca Chica.
Remember the large blue crane from RGV Aerials footage from the last episode? It’s not flat on the ground anymore
and so the immense size of this machine becomes apparent. It is gigantic. Right now stretching up around
120 meters into the sky
it by far is the largest crane on site, roughly doubling the large yellow Liebherr crane that is used to lift
Starship tank stacks. And while we’re busy staring at this huge monster of a crane,
let’s do a quick size comparison here.
The blue crane, to be used to construct the new large Super Heavy High Bay gives sense of scale for a full
Starship Stack.
So, this is, how tall a
Starship stacked on top of a Super Heavy booster will tower over the launch site. A few meters higher than a Saturn V moon rocket,
it will dwarf anything in operation right now.
Seeing this, it becomes pretty clear, why Elon Musk is already thinking of sea launches for Starships.
And remember. Even though it’s so large,
it will be much cheaper to build and launch one than it is right now to launch a Falcon 9.
That is the reason why SpaceX is developing this rocket. Fingers crossed, they can do this.
It would simply be
revolutionary. If you want to get more info about SpaceX's Starship development
details, about what exactly they're doing and lots and lots of other interesting
insights into Blue Origin, NASA, Rocket Lab and many other launch providers and their rockets,
I suggest you check out my quickly growing library of episodes!
While your at it do not forget to hit the like button wherever you see it and please do subscribe if you have not done so!
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Thank You!
What Elon Musk and SpaceX are creating in Boca Chica is
fascinating and stunning at the same time and Bets have been out for years on when we’ll see the first
Starship in orbit.
The question is really hard to answer, but it’s safe to say, that the process of getting there is equally as exciting as first
orbits. Pics or… it didn’t happen – RocketLabs 13th launch
The second news topic for today goes to Rocket Lab. An incredible success
story of a launch provider launching out of New Zealand and the United States. This time though, not
everything worked as planned. Rocket Lab has been around since
2006. So it can be sorted into the new age of private launch
providers in a very similar way as SpaceX. Where SpaceX though entered the arena of
medium and heavy launch vehicles, Rocket Lab went for the so called small sat business. Their carbon fiber Electron rocket is a
specialist. Its goal is to provide fast launch cadence at a low price with extremely precise orbit
insertions for small sats. With a payload capacity of only up to
225 kilograms to a 500 kilometer sun synchronous orbit, Electron is small, but none the less a very sophisticated
launch vehicle. And it has performed flawless
for many launches… until now. Launch 13, right?
Remember Apollo 13, then the name of the mission. Pics, or it didn’t happen. It’s just too crazy to be true,
but yeah, Rocket Lab lost the vehicle. I am not superstitious at all,
but this I mean come on there must be something going on here, right?
Sitting on the launch pad ready for take-off with 7 payloads on top everything looked as… well…
every single time before. The customers Canon Electronics, Planet and In-Space Mission had, as always,
provided more than enough payloads for the fairing to be completely stuffed. High resolution
imaging satellite technology demonstrators, 5 SuperDove constellation satellites manufactured by Planet,
operating the worlds largest constellation of earth imaging satellites and finally a cube Sat from Britain. As always
beautifully presented by Rocket Lab, let’s just listen in on this launch. The
electron rocket took off just fine and went on a nominal trajectory.
The 9 rutherford engines fueled with RP1 and LOX and powered by electric turbo pumps have a beautiful sound to them, making these
electron launches a joy to watch. Main engine cut off and stage separation
occurred without any incident and the upper stage ignited just fine for its burn. The fairing got jettisoned as well, as
expected on the mission timeline. At roughly 6 minutes into the flight though, around 20 seconds away from the so called
battery hot swap, a critical part of the mission, where the upper stage
switches from one battery feeding its turbo pump to another and in the process
jettisoning
the empty one, the picture feed cut out and the telemetry showed first signs of something being
seriously wrong. The upper stage reached a so called apogee, the highest point of a ballistic curve or orbit.
The highest altitude reached was only 194.8 kilometers though,
after which the upper stages telemetry showed descending numbers.
This should never happen, while the rocket normally should still be busy raising its orbit. Thrust went down.
The upper stage was not able to further raise its speed and in return its orbit.
No pics anymore either, if you get what I mean.
From here on, the speed went further up and the altitude down. As of recording this Episode,
there’s no official cause for the anomaly, but shortly after it occurred, Rocket Lab lost flight
13 with all its payloads. Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab, who I already had the honor of interviewing,
announced a short statement on Twitter to apologize to the customers involved in the mission.
He said, that this was a reminder, that Spaceflight can be very unforgiving.
The upper stage followed a safe reentry corridor,
causing no harm to civilians or personnel and Rocket Lab is right now working closely with the FAA to investigate the anomaly,
identify its root cause and correct any issues to move forward as soon as these
investigations are complete and of course, all the corrective measures are in place.
It’s of course unknown, how long these
investigations will take and how soon Rocket Lab can get back to business with an improved vehicle.
These can be hard times for a launch provider that can take months to go through,
so my thoughts are with the many Rocket Lab engineers, personnel and of course Peter Beck himself right now.
Keep it up and recover quickly. You Rock!
After last weeks incredible SpaceX GPS3
live stream my team and I have many new supporters to thank for an
ever growing community and some very vital funding for the show! This time special thanks go out to
.. okay, Andi Hudson, John Randall, Christopher Hovord,
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Howard Walker,
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Gordon C and many many others. YOU ROCK!!!
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You Rock!
So this wraps up todays episode of What about it!? Will Starship Serial number 5
finally do a hop and is the 13 really a cursed number? As always, tell me in the comments!
Yeah