this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Starship Development Thread #48 (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

  1. When (first) orbital flight? First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. "The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship."
  2. Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
  3. What's happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/"shower head" system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
  4. When is the next flight test? Just after flight, Elon stated they "Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months." On April 29, he reiterated this estimate in a Twitter Spaces Q&A (summarized here), saying "I'm glad to report that the pad damage is actually quite small," should "be repaired quickly," and "From a pad standpoint, we are probably ready to launch in 6 to 8 weeks." Requalifying the flight termination system (FTS) and the FAA post-incident review will likely require the longest time to complete. Musk reiterated the timeline on May 26, stating "Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship."
  5. Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM? Musk tweeted on April 21: "3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch." Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.

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Starship Dev 47 | Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45 | Starship Dev 44

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Status

Road Closures

Type Start (UTC) End (UTC) Status
Primary 2023-08-24 13:00:00 2023-08-25 01:00:00 Cancelled
Alternative 2023-08-25 14:00:00 2023-08-26 02:00:00 Concluded
Alternative 2023-08-28 13:00:00 2023-08-27 01:00:00 Cancelled

Up to date as of 2023-09-05

Vehicle Status

As of 2023-09-05

Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Ship Location Status Comment
S20 Rocket Garden Retired
S24 Gulf of Mexico Destroyed Destroyed on during Flight Test 1
S25 Stacked on B9 Spin Prime and Static Fire
S26 Rocket Garden Cryo tested
S27 Rocket Garden Scrapped Common dome imploded
S28 Engine Install Stand Raptors installed Previously tested at Masseys
S29 High Bay Under construction Flap installation in progress
S30 High Bay Under construction
S31 High Bay Under construction
S32 Build Site Parts spotted
S33 Build Site Parts spotted
S34 Build Site Parts spotted

 

Booster Location Status Comment
Pre-B7 & B8 Scrapped or Retired B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped.
B7 Gulf of Mexico Destroyed Destroyed April 20th in Flight Test 1
B9 Launch mount Hot-stage ring installed Static fire (August 5th)
B10 Megabay 1 Cryo tested
B11 Rocket Garden Resting
B12 Megabay 1 Grid fins installed
B13 Build Site Parts under construction
B14 Build Site Parts under construction
B15 Build Site Parts under construction

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

Starbase Live-

3:05am- Dance floor lowered on to its carrier

3:52am- Dance floor drives away

7:25am- Lifts were up most of the night and workers started to remove equipment from around the OLM.

10:04am- SQD arm swings out of the way

10:13am- Chopsticks go up

11:00am- One lift still at the pad and no sign of pressure washers yet. I also just noticed this morning that they put hesco barriers (the big dirt filled containers) in front of the container they brought over to the side of the pad the other night. Are they really thinking about leaving it there for a launch?

1:12pm- Workers removing the tarp that covers the deluge plate

1:25pm- Forklift hauling away the tarp

1:36:44pm- B9 ambient air depress vent?

1:37:49pm- Another vent

1:38pm- Grid fins tested

2:36:56pm- FireX test

2:57pm- Sheriff at the road block

3:16:34pm- Much larger FireX test

3:46pm- Adrian predicts that it will be at least 7pm cdt before a test occurs

5:06pm- OTF venting

5:18pm- Pope stack

6:16pm- OTF venting really picking up

6:37pm- OLM vent

7:25pm- OLM vent stops. Propellant loading should be under way. Appx 30 minutes until spin prime

7:34pm- Lox frost line

7:45pm- OLM vent. Propellant load should be done

7:48pm- Engine venting

8:11:15pm- FireX

8:11:34pm- Spin prime

8:13:31pm- Depress vent

8:18pm- Recondenser on

8:30:05- Purge vent test

8:46:35pm- Tower vent

8:50:03pm- Another purge vent test

9:51pm- 3rd purge test

10:04pm- Another depress vent

10:05pm- One stream of water from the FireX

10:42pm- Road open

(This gets synced)