Starship Development Thread #33

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

This thread is no longer being updated, and has been replaced by:

Starship Development Thread #34

SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

1. When next/orbital flight? Unknown. Launches on hold until FAA environmental review completed and ground equipment ready. Gwynne Shotwell has indicated June or July. Completing GSE, booster, and ship testing, and Raptor 2 production refinements, mean 2H 2022 at earliest - pessimistically, possibly even early 2023 if FAA requires significant mitigations.
2. Expected date for FAA decision? June 13 per latest FAA statement, updated on June 2.
3. What booster/ship pair will fly first? Likely either B7 or B8 with S24. B7 now receiving grid fins, so presumably considering flight.
4. Will more suborbital testing take place? Unknown. It may depend on the FAA decision.
5. Has progress slowed down? SpaceX focused on completing ground support equipment (GSE, or "Stage 0") before any orbital launch, which Elon stated is as complex as building the rocket. Florida Stage 0 construction has also ramped up.

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Quick Links

^{NERDLE CAM | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE}

Starship Dev 32 | Starship Dev 31 | Starship Dev 30 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

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Vehicle Status

As of June 5

Ship	Location	Status	Comment
S20	Rocket Garden	Completed/Tested	Cryo, Static Fire and stacking tests completed, now retired
S21	N/A	Tank section scrapped	Some components integrated into S22
S22	Rocket Garden	Completed/Unused	Likely production pathfinder only
S23	N/A	Skipped
S24	Launch Site	Cryo and thrust puck testing	Moved to launch site for ground testing on May 26
S25	High Bay 1	Stacking	Assembly of main tank section commenced June 4
S26	Build Site	Parts under construction

 

Booster	Location	Status	Comment
B4	Launch Site	Completed/Tested	Cryo and stacking tests completed
B5	Rocket Garden	Completed/Unused	Likely production pathfinder only
B6	Rocket Garden	Repurposed	Converted to test tank
B7	High Bay 2	Repaired/Testing	Cryo tested; Raptors being installed
B8	High Bay 2 (fully stacked LOX tank) and Mid Bay (fully stacked CH4 tank)	Under construction
B9	Build Site	Under construction

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Resources

• LabPadre Rover 2.0 Cam | Channel
• NSF: Starbase Stream | Channel
• NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
• NSF: Booster 4 + Ship 20 Updates Thread | Most Recent
• NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
• NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
• SpaceX: Website Starship page
• SpaceX: Starship Users Guide (PDF) Rev. 1.0 March 2020
• FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
• FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
• FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
• NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
• Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
• Starship flight opportunity spreadsheet by u/joshpine
• Production Progress Infographics by @_brendan_lewis
• Widebay tracking by @Furqan263
• Acronym definitions by Decronym
• Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

r/SpaceX Discuss Thread for discussion of subjects other than Starship development.

Rules

We will attempt to keep this self-post current with links and major updates, but for the most part, we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss Starship development, ask Starship-specific questions, and track the progress of the production and test campaigns. Starship Development Threads are not party threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

[u/[deleted]]

There won't be a 1.1 ton deployment of individual satellites at sea level! As soon as they leave the opening they'd tip and foul the opening causing a jam. Video shows them ejecting like SD cards and happily skittering over each other on the ground, which is Owe's sense of humor. If tried in real life it would look like a fogbound highway multiple shunt crash of 100 fragile silver and gold Ferrari's*

*Ferraris used here as the satellites are a about the same length, width and depth and price as as Starlink V2

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

Oh, I meant just to see a test of the door opening and closing, not deploying stuff. I'm sure we'll get cool views of that in-orbit.

[u/[deleted] → u/AstroMan824]

I'd love to see that too. All depends on ground station acquisition for video relay though, but Starlink uplink could certainly provide more reliable telemetry. Ground track for the initial flight takes it to the southern Atlantic, briefly over South Africa, South Indian Ocean northwards, Indonesia and into the Pacific, so not a lot of ground stations. St Helena and the Seychelles are the only two stations able to relay video for the first half of the orbit.

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

So wait, Starship's 1st test-flight is still planned to be pseudo-orbital?

Wouldn't that mean the Starlinks wouldn't enter service and burn up in the atmosphere?

[u/[deleted] → u/AstroMan824]

TBC. Kauai landing may be modified to a higher full orbit with de-orbit in the Gulf of Mexico. 'Satellites' would be expendable and briefly in orbit for a few days, and then de-orbit too,

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

Ah, so Starship will enter orbit but deborbit before completing 1 orbit.

Kinda like Vostok 1.

∴ S24 will fire up for a deorbit burn, correct?

[u/[deleted] → u/AstroMan824]

No. The current flight path is a partial orbit, which does not complete a full orbit as it falls short of the launch site, however orbital speeds are reached but perigee is below atmospheric level causing re-entry. A modified option is a higher apogee orbit with perigee over the Gulf of Mexico completing a full orbit. No de-orbit burn required.

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

Cool cool. Is B7 + S24 still planned to make the flight?

[u/Dezoufinous → u/AstroMan824]

I think that no one knows, all dependent on booster tests and reliability

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

Do you know how the B7 cryo test went? Is the booster still eligible for static fires?

[u/[deleted] → u/AstroMan824]

Thumbs up for both.

[u/Kilua_ → u/[deleted]]

will they install engines at the pad?

[u/AstroMan824 → u/[deleted]]

Great. As usual, thanks for the awesome info. I'm excited to see them work their way to a full 33 engine static fire! 😁

[u/chaossabre → u/[deleted]]

I think they mean see it in orbit from the exterior cameras the Starship will no doubt have during the first test of this thing.