this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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SpaceX

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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.

Quick Links

RAPTOR ROOST | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE

Relevant Reddit threads (though these likely won't be accessible during the blackout).

Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45 | Starship Dev 44 | Starship Dev 43 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread


Status

Road Closures

No road closures currently scheduled

No transportation delays currently scheduled

Up to date as of 2023-07-09


Resources

I'll attempt to keep this post current with links and major updates, but would be greatly helped by information supplied by the community. I hope this can be an alternate place to discuss Starship development. While the Starship Development Threads on Reddit are not party threads, Lemmy is still small enough that I don't imagine that strict moderation will be needed in the short term.

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

New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

Starbase live-

8:57am- Black pipe lifted over towards the dog house area (most likely a cryo pipe but couldn’t tell for sure)

9:07am- LR11000 moves a deluge pipe. Lifted over to the work area by where the deluge stand is parked

9:30am- Second deluge pipe lifted. Moved to the same area

9:54am- 3rd deluge pipe moved

10:12am-4th deluge pipe moved (So apparently all of the pipes they moved to the side a couple weeks ago, they’re moving back over to be worked on)

10:20am- Looks like all of the boards have been removed and now they are starting to remove the metal poles of the scaffolding below the OLM.

10:26am- 5th deluge pipe moved. Crane didn’t swing back over this time so the Y pipe looks like it will stay in it’s current position

12:15pm- Scaffolding continues to be removed

2:15pm- Crane is starting to use the bucket to lift loads off of the top of the OLM as well as underneath.

5:15pm- Crane has lowered and left the OLM area. The 2 man lifts that have been working on the scaffolding have also lowered. Work continues around the base of the OLM.

6:30pm- Crane and man lift back up working on the BQD side of the OLM

9:15pm- Fireworks

9:25pm- SPI fireworks

(This gets synced)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I guess I expected today to be a slow day, allowing the concrete to set and with it being a holiday and all.

But nope, full steam ahead. I wonder when they’ll be ready to move that giant plate in?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

Okay, I was 3 hours into watching the replay and counting trucks when I noticed Rover 2 chat has picked up the count again. So let’s go with their numbers instead of me going cross eyed trying to watch this for 12 hours.

Rover 2-

12:45pm- 144 trucks

13:15- 150 trucks

13:32- First pump truck leaves site. 151 trucks

13:43- Second pump truck leaves site. 152 trucks

14:25- 160 trucks

15:00- It’s the pour that never ends It goes on and on my friends Some trucks started pouring, not knowing how deep it was And they’ll continue pouring because 33 raptors tried to dig to china

15:01- 168 trucks

15:23- 3rd pump truck leaves. The concrete trucks though, they keep coming. 170

15:35- 4th back up pump truck leaves. Truck 171 pulls in

15:45- 174 trucks in. 5 trucks have left with their tag wheels down though indicating they are still full. So they might be done.

16:00- I’m calling it. The last truck was stopped and diverted down to the electrical trench.

174 trucks in. 6 trucks left loaded. So 168 trucks overall. Add in the 132 from the last big pour and we’re at even 300 truck loads.

Starbase Live-

12:23pm- First pump truck lowers

1:13pm- Second pump truck lowers

3:12pm- Third pump truck lowers

(This gets synced)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Cryo loading of S25 well underway at 16:18 CDT

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Should we now be creating thread #47?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Detanking at 15:43 CDT.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

New comment from /u/santacfan on Reddit:

Starbase live-

11:56pm- 2nd manifold is lifted off it’s stand (Who needs sleep anyways)

12:12am- Manifold is going up after some weight was added to balance the load

12:14:40am- Starts to swing over

12:18am- Lowering. This should go to the left of the plate installed earlier

12:23am- Trying to get it aligned

12:25am- Starting to bring it in closer to the OLM

12:31am- Lowered a bit more. (Looks like they’re at the 10ft mark where they paused for quite a while earlier. So I’m off to bed)

12:45am- Lowered into place.

1:21am- Raised again

1:50am- B10 turns into Massey’s

2:01am- Manifold is lowered again

2:20am- Manifold go up, Basket go down

2:25am- Manifold goes down

2:36am- Basket goes up

2:59am- Basket goes down

3:35am- Small crane swings what may have been the 3rd manifold into place under the OLM

3:51am- Grover moves a piece of small diameter pipe over to the left side of the OLM where the excavators are working

5:30am- LR11000 is disconnected from the manifold section

8:10am- Day shift off to a slow start

9:25am- White pipe is lifted by a small crane over by the berm. RGV’s pictures show that they might be running a new water line from the current vertical tank over to the OLM.

9:32am- LR11000 lifts the counterweight that was used to keep the last manifold level during the lift

11:04am- Basket goes up

11:21am- Retaining wall goes up where they’ve been excavating

11:24am- Basket goes down

11:36am- 2 workers carry a plastic pipe over to the pit being dug by the long reach excavator (if it’s metal, enter those guys in a body building competition)

11:55am- 2 dump truck loads of gravel dumped on the other side of the excavator

12:00pm- Nic is leaving NSF

12:53pm- Basket goes up

1:06pm- Basket goes down

1:24pm- Grover lifts a couple pieces of metal off of the top of the OLM

1:40pm- LR11000 moves another counterweight away from the OLM

2:11pm- LR11000 lifts another counterweight

2:17pm- Small crane lifts a piece of metal out of the excavation pit

2:53pm- In todays adventure of what’s stuck at Starbase. We have a small bulldozer hanging off the side of a low boy trailer.

2:53:54- Random kid says hi

2:58pm- The excavator wins again. Bulldozer is on the trailer.

3:34pm- Grover moves what looks like a long straight piece of rebar over to the cryo pit area

3:49pm- Grover lifts a triangular piece of metal to the top of the OLM.

4:13pm- Grover lifts another triangular piece of metal to the top of the OLM.

4:30pm- Grover lifts more rebar over for the cryo pit lid

4:50pm- Basket goes up (to the door on the side of the OLM)

5:02pm- Rocket cows hack the stream

5:03pm- Basket goes down

5:37pm- Basket goes up

5:44pm- Basket goes down

6:32pm- LR11000 picks up a deluge pipe

6:51pm- Grover swings out of the way

6:57pm- LR11000 Starts swinging deluge pipe over. Straight pipe with a curve on the end closest to the OLM.

6:59pm- Starts lowering pipe to the back left side OLM

7:47pm- Small crane lifts a short piece of pipe next to the bigger piece the LR11000 lifted over

7:51pm- Short piece swung back away

9:00pm- Looks like some work on the lid for the cryo pipe vault. Some people going in and out of the ring around the OLM. They’re hiding what we really want to see behind the tarps though.

9:15pm- LR11000 moves to pick up Y pipe

9:41pm- Lifting straps connected to the crane

9:56pm- Y pipe lifted

9:58pm- Swung around the OLM

10:06pm- Lowered to just above the OLM

10:08pm- Guide rope got stuck on smaller crane. Had to go back up.

10:09pm- Going back down

10:12pm- Sat on the ground right outside the pit.

10:14pm- Lifted Up slightly and rotated

10:15pm- Lowered into the pit

10:25pm- For those wanting to keep track, In Ryan’s renders, we’ve seen the bottom pipe that goes to the middle manifold and the Y section that goes over it lifted in so far. There should be 2 short pieces next to connect the Y to the other 2 manifolds.

(This gets synced)

[–] pigeonberry 4 points 1 year ago

"SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket ever built. Its impact is still felt in this Texas community", a CNN article dated Friday, 7 July 2023.

Musk has repeatedly said he’d like to try to launch Starship again as soon as this summer, but the FAA said in a statement to CNN that SpaceX has yet to take public safety actions or submit a mishap report with corrective actions for FAA review and approval.

[–] pigeonberry 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I count at least 14 tiles. But that’s still way better than S24, isn’t it? And almost all of them are located at the perimeter of the methane dome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reddit thread is back up, thanks threelon

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

If anyone is interested in the rebar, the guess is that it’s #11 or #14 gauge based on pictures that we’ve seen.

Which leaves me wondering if there’s a tie gun out there large enough or if these guys have to do it all by hand. (My quick search only shows guns capable of #8 and smaller)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It would be a serious unit, our tie gun is amazing, but no way it does 11.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Hey SantacFan, any chance you’re going to keep posting here as well? If not, are you ok with us basically copy/pasting your (super useful and appreciated) updates?

[–] pigeonberry 3 points 1 year ago

Marcus House @MarcusHouse tweet: "We have Elons Starship talk updated now to tomorrow." (Friday, 23 June 2023)

[–] eco 3 points 1 year ago
[–] pigeonberry 3 points 1 year ago

I'm not following it in detail, but all the manifold plates are now at the Orbital Launch Mount. The manifold plates are, I gather, the distribution system to take one big input water pipe each and split the water into lots and lots of smaller pipes to form the showerhead.

Nice picture of the central plate before it was lowered. These look to me like two manifold plates being transported: Chris Bergin - NSF tweet; or just the picture.

Anyone know about the reputation of TheSpaceEngineer @mcrs987? They have a Twitter thread about progress so far. The first tweet has a render of the overall system. They say this is the current status: center plate installed, two manifold plates at the launch complex, three non-manifold plates (no big water pipe coming in) at the launch complete, one manifold plate back at the Sanchez site.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Additional views from yesterday’s Ship 25 static fire https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1673808523497721856?s=19

[–] pigeonberry 3 points 1 year ago

#To repeat, new pinned thread:

Thread 47

As @clothes on lemmy.world pointed out: for some reason, via lemmy.world, this 46B thread is still pinned and there's no sign of 47.

[–] pigeonberry 2 points 1 year ago

CNN: "CDC issues warning about the first locally acquired cases of malaria in the US in 20 years"

The Texas case: "Health Advisory: Locally Acquired Malaria Case". Cameron County. The county that has Boca Chica. They have no other details, like whether the outdoor work the person did was around the SpaceX site.

[–] pigeonberry 2 points 1 year ago

Marcus House @MarcusHouse tweet: "Sadly Elon was having trouble with internet connection and dropped out of 3 Spaces attempts. Now postponed till tomorrow", tomorrow being Saturday, 24 July 2023.

[–] pigeonberry 2 points 1 year ago

ArsTechnica article summarizing Musk's Twitter Spaces talk: "SpaceX making more than 1,000 changes to next Starship rocket by Stephen Clark" Single quotes are from the article; double quotes are Musk.

  • Hot staging. "Obviously, that results in kind of blasting the booster, so you've got to protect the top of the boost stage from getting incinerated by the upper stage engines." He expects 10% more tonnage to orbit. 'SpaceX is adding an extension to the top of the Super Heavy booster with vents to allow super-hot gas from the upper stage engines to safely flow out of the rocket’s structure “and not just blow itself up,” Musk said. “This is the most risky thing, I think, for the next flight.”'
  • "So I think the probability of this next flight working, getting to orbit, is much higher than the last one. Maybe it's like 60 percent. It depends on how well we do at stage separation."
  • 'SpaceX teams are modifying manifolds on the Raptor engines that direct hot methane-rich gas toward each engine’s combustion chamber for mixing with oxygen-rich gas. The previous design was susceptible to leaks, where the hot gas could seep through bolt holes used to attach the manifold to the engine. Engineers will introduce an improved manifold design and add more torque to bolts to address the concern about leakage of super-heated gas.'
  • Engine hydraulic steering system changing to electric thrust vectoring, as previously announced.
  • Stronger shielding around each engine.
  • Pad changes with lots more concrete, rebar, and the steel plates. "gigantic upside-down shower head".
  • Faster off the pad.
  • Did not discuss the flight termination system. On flight test 1, it was more like a flight if you don't mind ending when you feel like getting around to it but please don't let me be a bother about it system.
  • When? "There are a lot of variables here that are outside of our control". Like the FAA being satisfied with the flight termination system, supra.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you know where one can find a link to those pictogragh images to build/test status for starship/booster? I found those as a clean hud of shipset build stats easily digested. Not sure who created them though I always enjoyed seeing them when they popped up on reddit

[–] pigeonberry 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Interesting: the full recording of the interview is available to everyone on Twitter: Ashlee Vance @ashleevance. 49 minutes.

Also, a comment in The Previous Place was 'Elon states "more detailed Starship update later this week"' So this was lagniappe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Hello there!

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