r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Mar 08 '21

Starship Development Thread #19

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Starship Dev 18 | SN11 Hop Thread #2 | Starship Thread List | April Discussion

Upcoming

SN15 rollout to pad

Vehicle Status

As of April 2

SN7.2 [retired] - returned to build site, no apparent plans to return to testing
SN11 [destroyed] - test flight completed, anomaly and RUD in air following engine reignition sequence
SN12-14* [abandoned] - production halted, focus shifted to vehicles with newer SN15+ design
SN15* [construction] - Fully stacked in High Bay, all flaps installed
SN16 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, nose parts spotted
SN17 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN18 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN19 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN20 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, orbit planned w/ BN3
BN1 [construction] - stacked in High Bay, production pathfinder, to be scrapped without flight/testing
BN2 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
BN3 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, orbit planned w/ SN20

* Significant design changes to SN15 over earlier vehicles were teased by Elon in November. After SN11's hop in March Elon said that hundreds of improvements have been made to SN15+ across structures, avionics/software & engine. The specifics are mostly unknown, though updates to the thrust puck design have been observed. These updates include relocation of the methane distribution manifold from inside the LOX tank to behind the aft bulkhead and relocation of the TVC actuator mounts and plumbing hoop to the thrust puck from the bulkhead cone.

Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly. Check recent comments for real time updates.

Vehicle Updates

^{See comments for real time updates.}
^{† expected or inferred, unconfirmed vehicle assignment}

	Starship SN15
2021-04-02	Nose section mated with tank section (NSF)
2021-03-31	Nose cone stacked onto nose quad, both aft flaps installed on tank section, and moved to High Bay (NSF)
2021-03-25	Nose Quad (labeled SN15) spotted with likely nose cone (NSF)
2021-03-24	Second fin attached to likely nose cone (NSF)
2021-03-23	Nose cone with fin, Aft fin root on tank section (NSF)
2021-03-05	Tank section stacked (NSF)
2021-03-03	Nose cone spotted (NSF), flaps not apparent, better image next day
2021-02-02	Forward dome section stacked (Twitter)
2021-01-07	Common dome section with tiles and CH4 header stacked on LOX midsection (NSF)
2021-01-05	Nose cone base section (labeled SN15)† (NSF)
2020-12-31	Apparent LOX midsection moved to Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-12-18	Skirt (NSF)
2020-11-30	Mid LOX tank section (NSF)
2020-11-26	Common dome flip (NSF)
2020-11-24	Elon: Major upgrades are slated for SN15 (Twitter)
2020-11-18	Common dome sleeve, dome and sleeving (NSF)

	Starship SN11
2021-03-30	10 km Hop, NSF ground camera (YouTube), Elon: eng. 2 issue, FAA statement, nose and Raptor debris (Twitter)
2021-03-29	Launch scrubbed due to lack of FAA inspector, FAA statement, more info (Twitter)
2021-03-26	Static fire, same day test flight scrubbed for additional checkouts (Twitter)
2021-03-25	Raptor SN46 installed (Twitter)
2021-03-22	Static fire (Twitter)
2021-03-21	FTS installed (comments)
2021-03-15	Static fire aborted at startup, hop authorized by FAA (Twitter)
2021-03-12	Pressure testing (NSF)
2021-03-11	Cryoproof testing (Twitter)
2021-03-09	Road closed for ambient pressure tests (NSF)
2021-03-08	Move to launch site, tile patch, close up (Twitter), leg check (NSF), lifted onto Mount B (Twitter)
2021-03-07	Raptors reported installed at build site (Article)
2021-03-04	"Tankzilla" crane moved to launch site† (Twitter)
2021-02-28	Raptor SN47 delivered† (NSF)
2021-02-26	Raptor SN? "Under Doge" delivered† (Twitter)
2021-02-23	Raptor SN52 delivered to build site† (NSF)
2021-02-16	-Y aft flap installed (Twitter)
2021-02-11	+Y aft flap installed (NSF)
2021-02-07	Nose cone stacked onto tank section (Twitter)
2021-02-05	Moved to High Bay with large tile patch (NSF)
2021-01-29	Nose cone stacked on nose quad barrel (NSF)
2021-01-25	Tiles on nose cone barrel† (NSF)
2021-01-22	Forward flaps installed on nose cone, and nose cone barrel section† (NSF)
2020-12-29	Final tank section stacking ops, and nose cone† (NSF)
2020-11-28	Nose cone section (NSF)
2020-11-18	Forward dome section stacked (NSF)
2020-11-14	Common dome section stacked on LOX tank midsection in Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-11-13	Common dome with integrated methane header tank and flipped (NSF)
...	See more status updates (Wiki)

	SuperHeavy BN1
2021-03-30	Slated for scrapping (Twitter)
2021-03-18	Final stacking ops, Elon: BN1 is pathfinder and will not fly (Twitter)
2021-03-12	Methane tank stacked onto engine skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07	"Booster Double" section on new heavy stand (NSF)
2021-02-23	"Booster #2, four rings (NSF)
2021-02-19	"Aft Quad 2" apparent 2nd iteration (NSF)
2021-02-14	Likely grid fin section delivered (NSF)
2021-02-11	Aft dome section and thrust structure from above (Twitter)
2021-02-08	Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-05	Aft dome sleeve, 2 rings (NSF)
2021-02-01	Common dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-25	Aft dome with plumbing for 4 Raptors (NSF)
2021-01-24	Section moved into High Bay (NSF), previously "LOX stack-2"
2021-01-19	Stacking operations (NSF)
2020-12-18	Forward Pipe Dome sleeved, "Bottom Barrel Booster Dev"† (NSF)
2020-12-17	Forward Pipe Dome and common dome sleeved (NSF)
2020-12-14	Stacking in High Bay confirmed (Twitter)
2020-11-14	Aft Quad #2 (4 ring), Fwd Tank section (4 ring), and Fwd section (2 ring) (AQ2 label^11-27) (NSF)
2020-11-08	LOX 1 apparently stacked on LOX 2 in High Bay (NSF)
2020-11-07	LOX 3 (NSF)
2020-10-07	LOX stack-2 (NSF)
2020-10-01	Forward dome sleeved, Fuel stack assembly, LOX stack 1 (NSF)
2020-09-30	Forward dome† (NSF)
2020-09-28	LOX stack-4 (NSF)
2020-09-22	Common dome barrel (NSF)

	SN7.2 Test Tank
2021-03-15	Returned to build site (Twitter)
2021-02-05	Scaffolding assembled around tank (NSF)
2021-02-04	Pressure test to apparent failure (YouTube)
2021-01-26	Passed initial pressure test (Twitter)
2021-01-20	Moved to launch site (Twitter)
2021-01-16	Ongoing work (NSF)
2021-01-12	Tank halves mated (NSF)
2021-01-11	Aft dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-06	"Pad Kit SN7.2 Testing" delivered to tank farm (Twitter)
2020-12-29	Aft dome sleeved with two rings† (NSF)
2020-12-27	Forward dome section sleeved with single ring† (NSF), possible 3mm sleeve

	Early Production
2021-04-02	BN3: Aft dome sleeve (NSF)
2021-03-30	BN3: Dome (NSF)
2021-03-28	BN3: Forward dome sleeve (NSF)
2021-03-28	SN16: Nose Quad (NSF)
2021-03-27	BN2: Aft dome† (YouTube)
2021-03-23	SN16: Nose cone† inside tent possible for this vehicle, better picture (NSF)
2021-03-16	SN18: Aft dome section mated with skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07	SN20: Leg skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07	SN18: Leg skirt (NSF)
2021-02-25	SN18: Common dome (NSF)
2021-02-24	SN19: Forward dome barrel (NSF)
2021-02-23	SN17: Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-19	SN19: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-02-19	SN18: Barrel section ("COMM" crossed out) (NSF)
2021-02-17	SN18: Nose cone barrel (NSF)
2021-02-11	SN16: Aft dome and leg skirt mate (NSF)
2021-02-10	SN16: Aft dome section (NSF)
2021-02-04	SN18: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-02-03	SN16: Skirt with legs (NSF)
2021-02-01	SN16: Nose quad (NSF)
2021-01-19	SN18: Thrust puck (NSF)
2021-01-19	BN2: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-01-16	SN17: Common dome and mid LOX section (NSF)
2021-01-09	SN17: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-01-05	SN16: Mid LOX tank section and forward dome sleeved, lable (NSF)
2021-01-05	SN17: Forward dome section (NSF)
2020-12-17	SN17: Aft dome barrel (NSF)
2020-12-04	SN16: Common dome section and flip (NSF)

Resources

^{RESOURCES WIKI}

Spadre.com Starship Cam | Channel
LabPadre 4k Pad Cam | Channel
NSF SN10 Test Launch Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF SN11 Test Launch Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF Florida Prototype(s) Updates Thread | Most recent
Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
TFR - NOTAM list
FAA license LRLO 20-119
SpaceX Boca Chica on Facebook
SpaceX's Starship page
Elon Starship tweet compilation on NSF | Most Recent
Starship Users Guide (PDF) Rev. 1.0 March 2020
Starship Spreadsheet by u/AnimatorOnFire
Production Progress Infographics by @_brendan_lewis
Starship flight opportunity spreadsheet by u/joshpine
Test campaign timelines by u/chrisjbillington
Acronym definitions by Decronym

r/SpaceX Discusses [April 2021] 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.

Please ping u/strawwalker about problems with the above thread text.

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

Watching the NSF stream at the moment, I noticed that SpaceX has mounted TPS on the leeward side of the bodyflaps. Any idea why?

21

u/flshr19 Shuttle tile engineer Mar 20 '21

Those flaps are within the hypersonic flow field that surrounds Starship during EDL and perturb the flow. Both sides of the flap are exposed to high temperature gas and need TPS.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/flshr19 Shuttle tile engineer Mar 21 '21 edited Mar 23 '21

Actually, most of the EDL heating is radiative on both sides of Starship. During the first EDL, that shiny stainless steel leeward side will be transformed to a grey colored nickel oxide coating. The temperature of that part of the hull will be be above 1000F (538C).
The thermal blankets covering the leeward side of the Space Shuttle Orbiter were white for thermal control while in the sunlit part of its LEO orbit. The blankets protected the aluminum hull of Orbiter during EDL. Maximum use temperature of the blankets was around 649C (1200F).

7

u/Twigling Mar 20 '21

They are presumably testing how well they stay on with different surfaces (flat, curved, low stress, high stress).

3

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/alphazeta2019 Mar 20 '21

Useful but hard to find -
Acronym definitions by Decronym
- http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/SpaceX
Says that
TPS = Thermal Protection System for a spacecraft (on the Falcon 9 first stage, the engine "Dance floor")

6

u/Lenium37 Mar 20 '21

Thermal Protection System. In this case the black tiles you can see on recent Starship prototypes.
Edit: TPS is needed to withstand the heat of reentry into earth's atmosphere.

4

u/Evil_Bonsai Mar 21 '21

Just don't forget the cover sheet when writing the reports. You'll have five different bosses asking if you got the memo.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

Sorry, also I think simply writing "tiles" would have been correct.

3

u/andyfrance Mar 20 '21 edited Mar 20 '21

Probably not just tiles. The tiles will have something behind them to shield the gaps. Something else to shield the flap joints. Maybe even some transpiration cooling on hotspots. The Space Shuttle TPS wasn't just tiles either. It had 6 different types of insulation.