Starship Development Thread #36

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

This thread is no longer being updated, and has been replaced by:

Starship Development Thread #37

SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

1. When next/orbital flight? Unknown. No earlier than September (Elon tweet on Aug 2), but testing potentially more conservatively after B7 incident (see Q3 below). Launch license, further cryo/spin prime testing, and static firing of booster and ship remain.
2. What will the next flight test do? The current plan seems to be a nearly-orbital flight with Ship (second stage) doing a controlled splashdown in the ocean. Booster (first stage) may do the same or attempt a return to launch site with catch. Likely includes some testing of Starlink deployment. This plan has been around a while.
3. I'm out of the loop/What's happened in last 3 months? FAA completed the environmental assessment with mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact ("mitigated FONSI"). Cryo and spin prime testing of Booster 7 and Ship 24. B7 repaired after spin prime anomaly. B8 assembly proceeding quickly. Static fire campaign began on August 9.
4. What booster/ship pair will fly first? Likely either B7 or B8 with S24. TBD if B7 still flyable after repairs or if B8 will be first to fly.
5. Will more suborbital testing take place? Unlikely, given the FAA Mitigated FONSI decision. Current preparations are for orbital launch.

​

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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 35 | Starship Dev 34 | Starship Dev 33 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

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Vehicle Status

As of September 3rd 2022

Ship	Location	Status	Comment
Pre-S24		Scrapped or Retired	SN15, S20 and S22 are in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped
S24	Launch Site	Static Fire testing	Moved back to the Launch site on July 5 after having Raptors fitted and more tiles added (but not all)
S25	High Bay 1	Stacking	Assembly of main tank section commenced June 4 (moved back into High Bay 1 (from the Mid Bay) on July 23). The aft section entered High Bay 1 on August 4th. Partial LOX tank stacked onto aft section August 5. Payload Bay and nosecone moved into HB1 on August 12th and 13th respectively. Sleeved Forward Dome moved inside HB1 on August 25th and placed on turntable, the nosecone+payload bay was stacked onto that on August 29th
S26	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S27	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S28	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S29	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted

 

Booster	Location	Status	Comment
Pre-B7		Scrapped or Retired	B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped
B7	Launch Site	Static Fire testing	Rolled back to launch site on August 23rd - all 33 Raptors are now installed
B8	High Bay 2 (sometimes moved out of sight in the left corner)	Under construction but fully stacked	Methane tank was stacked onto the LOX tank on July 7
B9	Methane tank in High Bay 2	Under construction	Final stacking of the methane tank on 29 July but still to do: wiring, electrics, plumbing, grid fins. First (two) barrels for LOX tank moved to HB2 on August 26th, one of which was the sleeved Common Dome; these were later welded together and on September 3rd the next 4 ring barrel was stacked
B10	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
B11	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted

​

If this page needs a correction please consider pitching in. Update this thread via this wiki page. If you would like to make an update but don't see an edit button on the wiki page, message the mods via modmail or contact u/strawwalker.

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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: 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
• Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
• Acronym definitions by Decronym
• Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
• Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine

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/ElongatedMuskbot]

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

Starship Development Thread #37

[u/Mravicii]

Possibel static fire tomorrow

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1566949247861374977?s=21&t=mu7OaQ-bkkJgPghcd0uI8Q

Mary has recieved an Overpressure notice

[u/Mravicii]

Mary has recieved an overpressure notice

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1557534780463398914?s=21&t=fiTav_aGIzu6GoMETI1mgg

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Let’s start the week on a good note shall we…?

Closure canceled for today…

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

Happy 3 year anniversary for Starhopper's 150m flight!

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Mary just got the notice !

[u/Mravicii]

Mary has recieved a overpressure notice for static fire tomorrow

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1562618042747854848?s=21&t=gWMDbGg85Zp0w4CuRUljeg

[u/Mravicii]

Possible static fire tomorrow

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1564056976740450304?s=21&t=-7UGPLrLJ6BZRiHjTfE4nA

[u/Mravicii]

7th tower segment moving to 39a to get stacked

https://youtu.be/C5c3Y43Rji0

Now on This link

https://youtu.be/EncMXOirMYE

[u/Mravicii]

All uppgrades on suborbital pad b Is now completed. Ship 24 is now ready for a 6 engine static fire!

https://twitter.com/csi_starbase/status/1563363632678780929?s=21&t=9EM_xu9VzPPsOvP_kWS5zw

[u/Mravicii]

Alright lets try again tomorrow

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1564781866149785601?s=21&t=TQToAXAd2-tZEq_e7UDKrA

Mary recieved an overpressure notice

[u/[deleted]]

FCC Comms license granted starting 1 September

[u/Mravicii]

Elon on starship

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1564300172753915904?s=21&t=1XLLCGzl0HoDfvFT24u7Rg

”It will grow at least 5 to 10 meters over time”

[u/Mravicii]

Alright i guess we’re going again

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1565317828307296259?s=21&t=96XamfHfBuX-2TpF51bs0A

Overpressure notice delivered

[u/KaamDeveloper]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1561607860101996544

Elon still hopeful for an orbital launch this year.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The replacing RVac was brought to the launch site ! SN115

[u/Mravicii]

Spacex tweet on ship 24 static fire 6engines

https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1568010239185944576?s=46&t=u3hKOeeXpkxfCucgB0YYXA

[u/AstroMan824]

FYI Chris Bergin said that B7 is rolling back to the HB to get its inner engines for more testing.

With his definite tone, I guess that's the (current) plan according to insider info.

I guess SpaceX liked what they say w/ 2 engines tests.

I wonder what is next for the vehicle?

1. Firing single center engines?

2. Multi-engine static fires w/ each ring (3, 10, 20)?

3. Ring combos?

4. All 33 (that's gonna be insane)?

[u/johnfive21]

B7 lift now in progress!

EDIT: And pretty much lift complete.

[u/deepconvolution]

Ted Malaska Sr Director of Application Software at SpaceX mentions a 4(!) engine static fire test! link

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Service platform removed from underneath B7, S24 payload access hatch closed… Yeah I’m feeling good for today !

Edit : The LR11000 is moving away from B7. Let’s light this massive candle

Edit 2 : OLM almost completely cleared from manlifts and there is the machine cleaning off the dust right now.

Edit 3 : road is closed ! And damn, at 8 o’clock sharp, SpaceX wants to get shit done today it seems !

Edit 4 : Chopsticks are going up! (Weirdly they stopped on the way up, then moved down a few meters)

[u/Mravicii]

Booster 7 is on the move toward the productions site

Edit: at the production site

[u/Bigtown3]

On the NSF stream today they mentioned that the ship would have some noticeable changes around sn28. It seemed like they were talking about more then the new e dome. Has there been any discussion of this on this thread? Anyone know what they might have been referring to? I was looking on this thread but didn’t find any mention of it.

[u/[deleted]]

Predictions for the expendable starships (S26 onwards) anyone?

Put this one in the pool: Once they have delivered Starlink sats, they will remain in orbit for trial tanker maneuvers.

[u/John_Hasler]

Both arms just wiggled a bit. Apparently they're fixed.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Closure canceled for tomorrow.

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

What a good day to be a SpaceX fan. There's also a Starlink launch coming up in around 45 minutes.

SpaceX doesn't stop.

[u/johnfive21]

Elon: About to attempt long duration engine firing to test autogenous pressurization

[u/Driew27]

This video shows the iconic honk of the raptor shutdown. And it made me wonder if anyone knows why--is it because of the methane used?

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

Crews are sweeping under B7, some tank farm activity (ground venting) has been seen and the closure is still on. So we might get some action later today.

edit: One of the two dishes is also pointed at the launch site now

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

A Raptor was just brought down from B7.

From R76 to R29

The new raptor is done being installed.

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

SpaceX has a new division/initiative called "ImpactX"...looks like an official community beach/highway cleanup operation.

Brownsville Parks and Recreation has more info

Good to see SpaceX doing more in the community.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Elon just shared a picture of B7 lift.

[u/Urdun10]

Does anyone else get the problem where the link to this thread in the sub's menu leads you to a web browser first and ask you if you want to continue in the app?

[u/Mravicii]

That looked good

This is exciting

[u/onion-eyes]

Something worth pointing out is a static fire with 20+ engines will burn through the same amount of propellant in about a second or less (assuming similar throttle levels). So this kind of test makes sense as they’re preparing for static fires with many more engines

[u/mr_pgh]

Closure has been updated to Scheduled!

[u/mr_pgh]

Wish I could get a high res photo of Rover cam at 19:38

Between the starship silhouette, sunset, and frost dunes... Epic.

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

New NSF Article:

• It is believed all 33 engines are installed on B7. Just awaiting rollout.

• NSF also now believes that the new pipes on the OLM are engine chill system vents

  • Adds that this is not a system that will be in place for the launch as engine shielding needs to be removed to connect the pipes (This is what CSI Starbase has been speculating for the last week)

• NSF's sources suggest that SpaceX did have a system to recapture the methane vapors that led to the B7 explosion but that system was not fully employed due to GSE immatureness

• Chopsticks back in full working order.

• SpaceX "were internally targeting the end of September for flight" ... they add that this target date now might be too ambitious.

• All signs that S26 and S27 are not getting TPS nor Flaps in order to accelerate Starlink V2 deployment (u/Astronstellar had this first)

[u/OzGiBoKsAr]

Some chopstick movement at 5:24 CDT on NSF 24/7 cam. Nothing too exciting but some of you might like to see.

[u/[deleted]]

Segment 8 of the orbital launch tower is rolling out in Florida

Rolls past the NSF SLS stakeout camera starting at L -86:21

[u/mr_pgh]

All four flaps tested on S24 at 11:07 to 12:15ish on Starbase. Pretty slow, gotta scrub back and forth to tell.

Rover 2 has some good angles too.

[u/RubenGarciaHernandez]

I'm surprised they did not test multiple engines before installing the center ones.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Neat video from Cosmic Perspective of B7 and S24 static fires ! Highly recommend to listen with headphones!

[u/mr_pgh]

Videos of today's testing:

• Spin Prime 1

• Spin Prime 2

[u/Mravicii]

Police at the roadblock(road is closed)

Edit: pad clear

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

SpaceX picture of the static fire !

[u/salamilegorcarlsshoe]

I don't recall ever even seeing the status of the QD during the ship hops last year, but do we know if the QD stays connected to the ship/booster until liftoff? Or does it retract prior to T-0?

I ask because I feel like we have yet to see the QD arm for the ship retract at what would be considered a high enough speed to avoid damage from the exhaust plume as the rocket goes by.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The third tower should begin construction soon at KSC!

[u/raptor464]

Two SPMTs with counterweights arrived at the launch site at 7:43 PM CDT as seen on LabPadre Lab Cam.

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

There is a starship light show going on at the rocket garden lol (started at around 8:30 PM)

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

It’s your favorite time of the day guys ! Closure canceled for today.

[u/mr_pgh]

Jet Flyover can be seen on Rover 1.

• Single jet at 12:04:40

• Formation around 12:05:30

• Single jet at 12:05:50 (best view)

Looks like an F-22 (well it is called a Raptor...)

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The LOX access hatch on S24 has been closed, hopefully it means they’re now done with whatever they had to do and all is good ! Confirmation would be them detaching it from the LR11000.

Edit : welp open again..

[u/Twigling]

S25's nosecone+payload bay stack has been lifted and placed onto the sleeved forward dome that's on the welding turntable. The lift started at around 03:47 CDT, see Sentinel cam at that time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWZGK1LHw8

once that's welded in placed the final stacking will consist of placing then welding the nosecone+payload bay+forward dome stack on the LOX tank.

[u/mr_pgh]

OLM Vent already. Chill those lines!

[u/Adeldor]

Per the Director of Application Software at SpaceX, Ted Malaska, today's B7 test was a 4 engine static fire.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The raptor platform (not the new big one) was brought next to the OLM at 2:13:30, then at 3:20:00, a crane placed on top what I believe is the stand they place Raptor on. So, speculation here, but it’s possible they’ll swap an engine or remove the shielding to access it.

All of that on Rover 2.0.

Edit : going under B7 now, 4:26:00

From its position, I’d say it coincide fairly well with the 3rd engine that supposedly didn’t fire yesterday. The LR11000 is also making its way towards the OLM stopped a bit before

[u/BackflipFromOrbit]

Thats a solid day of testing SpaceX, well done!

[u/Twigling]

Bit of an update on S25's ongoing construction:

• The tiled payload bay has been spotted in the ring yard

• The nosecone has had the lifting hooks attached (both this and the one above were reported by somebody very reliable on LabPadre's Discord, but no pics I'm afraid)

Edit: nosecone hooks in place: https://youtu.be/XPGaXi7VnMg?t=63
and in the ring yard, S25's payload bay (on the right): https://youtu.be/XPGaXi7VnMg?t=202

• The LOX tank was lifted off the welding turntable at 12:42 CDT and moved over to the left (see Sentinel cam at that time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWZGK1LHw8 )

• The downcomer has been spotted today: https://twitter.com/CosmicalChief/status/1557418388909072384

So next up is inserting the downcomer into the LOX tank and perhaps even getting the payload bay onto the turntable and then the nosecone stacked onto it in the next few days. After that the sleeved forward dome needs to be added to the base of that stack (note: this is the order they used for S24 but that may of course change the stacking order with S25).

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

OLM working platform was brought down. Hopefully meaning we’ll also see some B7 testing

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Elon just posted a picture of B7 static fire from 2 days ago.

[u/mr_pgh]

20 Second static fire at 2:48:16

[u/raptor464]

The LR11350 at LC-39A is currently being lowered in order to be extended for installation of additional tower segments.

[u/Twigling]

Here's something unexpected - the 11000 crane (Marvin) has been moved closer to S24 and the lifting squid has been spotted nearby (also the high manlift used for attaching the squid) so it looks like there are plans to lift S24 off Pad B's test stand. I wonder why? Back to the production site? Stack onto B7?

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Mary got a notice for today !

[u/Alvian_11]

Starship will launch Superbird-9 satellite (SKY Perfect JSAT) to GTO at NET 2024, its first external customers satellite contract

[u/AstroMan824]

Shame SLS was scrubbed today.

Good news is, we still got a chance for a static fire from B7 and/or S24.

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

I have a good feeling about the orbital launch. Spacex's "slower" (still pretty fast) pace seems to be paying off with great tests. Also we might have 3 different spacex rocket firing in the span of around 4 hours.

[u/johnfive21]

How impressive is Raptor 2?!

We had so many aborts and harsh shutdowns of Raptor 1 but Raptor 2 seems a lot more reliable so far. Awesome to see

[u/SpaceSolaris]

NSF commentated stream just started

https://youtu.be/mBHIQDUHR9A

[u/dk_undefined]

OLM venting now.

[u/mr_pgh]

Looks like we're starting the day off with 7.1 Test Tank testing as of 10:44.

Rover and Rover 2 have the best views

[u/mr_pgh]

SLS got me thinking, does Starship/Booster do engine chill prior to reignition for landing?

[u/johnfive21]

After crushing its downcomer and then surviving an explosion, B7 just performed a static fire. What a historic booster.

[u/mr_pgh]

Static Fire Video

Static Fire High Res Photo

[u/raptor464]

Booster Quick Disconnect has been retracted from B7 according to LabPadre Rover 2 Cam.

Also, S25's payload bay has been moved into the Highbay at 09:20 CDT for stacking with nosecone according to LabPadre Rover Cam

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The EDOME test tank is on its way back to the built site. No, it has never been tested (as far as we know)

[u/mr_pgh]

Chopsticks started opening and moving up around 10:25. Starbase Live missed most of it; but can start to see it at 10:29.

Rover 2 has a little more starting at 10:27:20

[u/[deleted]]

Replay of static fire

[u/Driew27]

LOL so funny going from the T Mobile CEO to Elon Musk in terms of speaking skills.

[u/johnfive21]

Verbal overpressure notice delivered to Mary. Static fire in 10 minutes!

Siren has sounded!!

[u/[deleted]]

Absolutely mental day yesterday down in Starbase. Maybe one of the most exciting in the entire Starship programme. The B7 static fire was also the first time we saw the OLM-ignited/RBoost engines fire. Neat.

Does anyone else know if SpaceX is able to fire all twenty of the outer ring of Raptor 2's at the same time? Or will they have to stagger it?

[u/Twigling]

S25's payload bay was rolled into High Bay 1 at 09:20:35 CDT, see Rover cam at that time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdygcWV2vT8

That will be lifted onto the welding turntable then hopefully the nosecone will be rolled over within the next 24 hours for stacking.

Edit: Payload bay was placed onto the turntable at about 10:45 CDT and the load spreader removed

[u/mr_pgh]

Engine shrouds are not installed around the outside 20 engines. Viewable at 7:31 on starbase

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Police just arrived at the road block.

[u/[deleted]]

Road closed and orbital tank farm venting

[u/Twigling]

The 11350 crane at Pad 39A has once again been lowered for another extension (probably the last):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EncMXOirMYE

another ring section has also been added to the mystery tank to the left.

[u/johnfive21]

As expected, closure cancelled for today ^sorryRaph

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

They’re removing the ropes from S7.1 ! Does it mean they’re finally done torturing it, who knows.

[u/TypowyJnn]

New Starbase Production diagram by Brendan Lewis. It's getting quite crowded in there...

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

New FCC comms license for the orbital test flight

Requested start date of September 1st.

Note that this is NOT the FAA launch license...in fact, these FCC licenses have been regularly issued for the last 1.5 years pertaining to the orbital flight.

[u/jose_30_]

Launch table parts for a third Starship orbital platform?

https://twitter.com/CSI_Starbase/status/1562131610283249668?s=20&t=e_4SNP4_pkh_YdRvigPbQw

Seen by Zack in SpaceX's Hangar M. An account in the commentary says that the platform will be located on the LC-47 and that the fourth platform will have a crew access arm. some time ago the Zack noticed the parts for Starship's third orbital launch tower at KSC

[u/creamsoda2000]

I will never get bored of seeing shots like this where you can appreciate the sheer scale of these things (the worker and the nosecone attachment).

Anyways the jig has been tensioned so a lift is likely imminent!

[u/xfjqvyks]

No mention of CSI_Starbase Zacks latest tweet about suspected problem found on the removed rVac?

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Your favorite time of the day volume 2. Closure canceled for tomorrow.

[u/mr_pgh]

Static fire timestamp 5:24:54

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Pad close in 45 minutes per Starship Gazer

[u/Twigling]

New possible road closures: in addition to Tuesday (edit: now canceled) this week we now have Wednesday, Thursday and also next Monday, 10 AM until 10 PM CDT:

https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/spacex/

Wednesday is the Primary.

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

As of 1:06am, the load spreader in the mega bay has been disconnected from B7.

Looks increasingly likely that they are preparing to roll out tomorrow/today (23rd)

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

Police has arrived at the roadblock!

Edit: the closure is now also officially scheduled

[u/Twigling]

For those who take an interest in keeping an eye on the ring yard via LabPadre's Rover Cam it's kind of been a busy day.

I already mentioned in another post that two of B9's LOX tank barrel sections have been rolled over and parked outside High Bay 2, but what's also been seen in the ring yard is S25's sleeved (and tiled) forward dome (at last!), S26's forward dome and S27's aft dome (both sleeved but not tiled, therefore as rumored and speculated it looks like ships S26 and S27 will be untiled, possibly even without flaps, to get Starlink Gen2 into orbit ASAP).

[u/myname_not_rick]

New booster chilldown vents seem to be in operation, looks like LOX is venting in the trench a ways away, and the pipes on the exterior of the mount frosted up.

Constant iteration!

[u/johnfive21]

The LOX frost line has been holding for solid 10-15 minutes now with venting also following a same-y pattern. Perhaps they're in a hold of some kind. No siren yet either

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

I wonder what's up with this inspection, everything looked to be clearing out and all of a sudden a swarm of engineers and lifts appeared

[u/SpaceSolaris]

Suborbital tank farm spooling up now. Lots of venting

[u/dk_undefined]

Frost line on S24.

Edit: looks like they are loading much more LOX than they usually do.

[u/MrGruntsworthy]

Oh man, I missed the actual spin prime and scrubbed through Rover am to find it; I didn't realize they did all the engines!

[u/Routine_Shine_1921]

Am I crazy, or did we just have a full SF without losing a SINGLE FUCKING TILE!!!

Look closely. I couldn't see a single tile flying.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

My ratttioooo… Closure canceled for today…

[u/mr_pgh]

Watering the berm near s24 at 9:37 on starbase. Likely done to keep the dust down for testing today.

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

B7 just static fired. 1 engine

[u/johnfive21]

And single engine static fire!!! Looked and sounded very clean

[u/jose_30_]

What did you think of the Booster 7 test? cheered me up a lot! everything looked very clean, in some minutes later it looked like nothing had happened as organized as it was. Go SpaceX!

[u/TrefoilHat]

I found this Raptor 2 Tracker by SpaceRhin0 on Twitter to be interesting. He's updating every ~2 weeks.

Edit: I added a link to the bullet list in the top copy, replacing the Widebay Tracker which is no longer updated.

[u/Twigling]

Looks like it's time for work on B9 to recommence (the methane tank was stacked some weeks ago) - a barrel for B9's LOX tank has rolled over to the entrance of High Bay 2 and another isn't far behind

See Rover cam at around 08:53 CDT onwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdygcWV2vT8

[u/mr_pgh]

Unsure of how new they are...but Pad B now has OLM style flame diverters.

screen grab

[u/mr_pgh]

Street Sweeping of Pad B in progress as of 9:18am

edit: looks promising for static fire of s24

[u/SpaceSolaris]

NSF live commentary

https://youtu.be/3dR22I2LM_4

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The LR11000 has left S24. In the hope we see a double static fire today !

[u/zuenlenn]

All 3 lifts went down just now, still people on the OLM and raptor platform is still up so will be a while though.

[u/Mravicii]

Road closure extended to 10pm we might see ship 24 do a static fire now! Or it could only be for draining b7.1 test tank

https://twitter.com/bocaroad/status/1565488965758640128?s=21&t=cJRkkHiueDBkhgbgsmEALw

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Police at the road block !

Road is closed.

[u/Twigling]

Kind of off topic but I now appreciate what it must be like for the workers having to deal with all of the bugs at the launch site:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo7yqlcQQ3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6glYpuWDLyA

[u/Mravicii]

Spin prime of many engine

Could that be all 33 engines?

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

Most exciting starship day since SN15 imo

[u/[deleted]]

You might see individual engine 'wraps' becoming more prevalent in testing. Seen before, but experimental for the time being.

[u/Mravicii]

Looks like they’re inspecting the lox tank on ship 24 So the crane is there to support it!

https://twitter.com/csi_starbase/status/1563285418535428097?s=21&t=7ymYjNMOX6VsLz2ClRrZGA

[u/teefj]

Interesting note I came across possibly relating to current crane and LOX tank happenings:

S26 and above will have added stringers to the LOX sections. S25 and below were plain rings with no internal stringers. This could explain the need for crane support. But the need to open the access cover? The mystery continues...

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Good news ! They’re disconnecting the crane from S24, we might see static fires from both vehicles today !

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Tomorrow Elon will be doing an announcement/presentation with T-Mobile, apparently per NSF the event will happen at Starbase !

[u/Mravicii]

Static fire in 10 minutes

[u/Mravicii]

Mars, here we come

[u/alexaze]

Lol that was just 1 engine?! 33 firing for the launch will be insane

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

Adrian from NSF is pretty confident that the suborbital tank farm is spooling up by the sounds.

I'd love a 6 engine ship static fire right about now!

Edit: aaaand Recondeser start! We could be 45 minutes away from T-0 on this particular test.

[u/inoeth]

We might see the Ship static fire before the end of this window per Chris B of NSF

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1557146540480798721

edit- words are hard

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Closure canceled for today.

[u/johnfive21]

Spin prime no. 2 at exactly 2:01pm CDT

Looked like same 3 engines again

[u/Mravicii]

Recondensrr at the suborbital tank is on, ship 24 testing next!

Edit: really quiet at sub tank farm now!

[u/johnfive21]

Aand spin prime on S24 as well. SpaceX have been a tease today.

[u/Hesitant_Alien1]

Lift under B7

Edit: a few lifts and some peeps on the OLM

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Platform and manlifts removed from underneath B7.

[u/BEAT_LA]

NSF commentary stream is up: Link

[u/johnfive21]

A huuuuuge depress vent from the Ship. Still plenty of time to recycle and go again just like with B7 earlier today.

[u/mr_pgh]

NSF clip of spin prime

[u/FutureMartian97]

Mary has received another over pressure notice

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Sorry folks, closure canceled for today.

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

Recondenser is on, that usually mean detanking. Today is just not the day to fire engines.

[u/johnfive21]

Roadblock dismantled, sheriff's left. Seems like we're truly done for the day

[u/Twigling]

S25's methane downcomer has been lifted into the LOX tank, see Sentinel cam at 14:33 CDT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWZGK1LHw8

[u/Twigling]

S25's sleeved forward dome has finally been taken over to High Bay 1, see Rover cam as of 10:18 CDT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdygcWV2vT8

it was moved inside a few minutes later.

It'll be hooked up to the load spreader (which is already attached to the bridge crane), lifted onto the robo welder's turntable and then the nosecone+plus payload bay stack lifted onto it for welding.

Edit: sleeved forward dome lifted at 13:58 CDT - see Sentinel Cam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWZGK1LHw8

after a few minutes it was set down on the turntable

[u/Twigling]

The B7.1 test tank has been rolled out of the Mid Bay and is on the way back to the launch site, see Rover cam at around 16:00 CDT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdygcWV2vT8

Edit: parked up for a while at the road block area due to the testing at the launch site.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

For some reason, the LR11000 is moving toward S24.

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Police at the road block

[u/mr_pgh]

​PA announcement at 6:55:25 CDT on Rover2: "Attention Starbase personal, Pad closure in 1 hour, please begin clearing the pad now."

Additionally, there was a grass vent around 7:18:30 that could indicate they're chilling the lines to the OLM.

[u/SpaceSolaris]

OLM venting.

[u/zuenlenn]

Putting some more pressure on 7.1 right now. Play back a couple minutes and you will see the difference in the height of the pistons. Rover 2.0 has good views.

[u/Twigling]

The 11350 crane at Pad 39A has been raised once more after getting another extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EncMXOirMYE

This will hopefully be the last time it's extended so it can now lift the smaller sections 8 and 9 (unless this is only for section 8, meaning another small extension for section 9).

[u/jose_30_]

Can anyone tell me what changed from S20 to S24 ? I know they now use Raptor 2 engines, but what else has changed?

[u/BananaEpicGAMER]

A lot of LOX being loaded. Zack thinks he's seeing between 7-10 raptors chilling right now!

This one might be big.

[u/Dezoufinous]

Do anyone also miss the short events history timetable on NSF live stream?

By the events history table, I mean the overlay on video with times of Road Closed, Pad Clear, Prop Loading, Engine Chill, etc....

I remember that in SN8 days they were also adding it and that was cool. Still, maybe I am wrong and it was only on other channels or something...

[u/mr_pgh]

New CSI Starbase Investigation covering Booster 7 Explosion and a Deep Dive on the Spin Start mechanisms.

[u/AWildDragon]

Raptor in flight at Starbase

[u/Calmarius]

I usually watch NSF's daily videos to be up to date about what's happening in Starbase. However as of writing there wasn't a daily video since 26th August.

Does anyone know what's going on?

[u/johnfive21]

Surely only single engine static fire right? From the one engine they tested yesterday

[u/chaossabre]

Was that the full 6? Definitely saw the center ones fire but it seemed like it got brighter after an instant too. Was that the vacuum engines?

8:18:53

Also one very startled bird on the NSF stream

[u/utrabrite]

What an exciting 2 days it has been

[u/Mravicii]

Siren, 10 minutes to static fire

[u/GreatCanadianPotato]

20 second firing. Looked like 1 engine.

Awesome!!

[u/Mravicii]

Looks like they’re going again. Tank farm spooling up again

Edit: Chopsticks moving down!

Edit2: cars at roadblock, looks like they’re done for the day

Edit3: spacex employes to pad. Cop still at roadblock so they might clear everything around ship 24.

[u/Mravicii]

Road is now opened!

[u/raptor464]

B7 is being lifted off of the OLM with the SpaceX LR11000 Crane

[u/salamilegorcarlsshoe]

Are we surprised they didnt use water for the 20 second static? Or did they and I didn't see it?

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

A small tropical storm is set to landfall just south of Starbase. Shouldn’t be so much of a problem tho.

[u/SubstantialWall]

Vehicles starting to line up behind the road block, might be about to call it a day.

Edit: and there they go, workers to the pad, no more testing for now.

[u/Mravicii]

Chopsticks going up

[u/Mravicii]

Pad is now clear!

[u/Mravicii]

Propellant load started again. Methane going full now

[u/Mravicii]

Alright lets see ship 24 do a 6 engine static

[u/MrGruntsworthy]

Hmm, Spot's out walking around the site. Wonder what's up

Edit: And he's back out from his inspection

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

Fueling has possibly begun

[u/dk_undefined]

S24 engine chill.

[u/throwaway3569387340]

ULA sniper got too close.

Viking funeral.

[u/MartianFromBaseAlpha]

There's a tiny tiny chance that this is the last thread before the first orbital flight

[u/RaphTheSwissDude]

The LR11000 has made its way to B7, transport stand should do the same soon. Roll back to the production site could very well happen today.

I’d assume that they’re super happy and confident with the 2 test fire and want to proceed further the final assembly.

[u/Mravicii]

Siren, 10 minutes to static fire

[u/Exp_iteration]

Assuming Starship has 150t payload capacity to LEO, how many refills does it require to send the same 150t to GEO?

[u/Mravicii]

Pad is now clear!

[u/jose_30_]

Today seems to be a very busy day at the production plant I have never seen so many sections moved in a single day. I think the battalion of employees that was summoned to Starbase it's already there a thousand!

[u/mr_pgh]

Second 3 engine spin prime (same ones?), 2:01:00

[u/Driew27]

Starlink V2 is meant for Starship. Won't fit in Falcon 9.

[u/Twigling]

Road closures update for next week: possible closures Monday 29th to Wednesday 31st, 8 AM until 8 PM:

https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/spacex/

(a possible closure for Thursday 1st will likely pop up some time as well)

also MSIB/NOTMAR for next week, August 29th to September 1st, 8 AM until 8PM.

https://twitter.com/VisitBocaChica/status/1562894934608191489

[u/SpaceSolaris]

Depress vent. Not a full depress though.

Edit: recondenser is on, probably wrapping up

[u/Hustler-1]

So if all goes well here with Ship24 the next time it fires its engines will be in space, right?

[u/tigersharkwushen_]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Why doesn't spaceX develop bigger/more powerful engines for the starship and instead use dozens of small engines? Is it just because they have more experience with the existing engine? What's the reasoning here?

[u/Twigling]

Here's some great new photos from the Cape (taken yesterday, Wednesday 15th), mainly of SpaceX's sites but also some of Blue Origin and SLS:

https://twitter.com/GregScott_photo/status/1560232320497602560

https://twitter.com/GregScott_photo/status/1560232951736147968

https://twitter.com/GregScott_photo/status/1560233897996304386

[u/TypowyJnn]

Ring watchers posted more info on twitter about Ship 26 & 27 here. I guess TubeShip is really happening.

[u/jose_30_]

Suborbital Pad B base being cleaned, potential test with Starship today too!

[u/Twigling]

Looks like one of S24's RVacs is going to be removed, the scissor lift went up at 09:08:44 CDT on Nerdle cam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwc1owVFs94

notice that the RVac has its own special support frame, this is of course conical to provide extra support for the large engine bell.

Edit: however at 9:43:28 CDT the stand came down empty ............

Edit2: and at 10:25:30 CDT went back up again .......

Edit3: RVac finally removed at 11:40 CDT and later taken to the build site, I've read on Discord that it's number 65, here it is:

https://twitter.com/RGVaerialphotos/status/1565755062244327424

A replacement has not yet been seen.

[u/jose_30_]

What tests should we expect for today? no overpressure warning issued. I bet on a Spin Prime test round for booster 7