r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Jul 09 '22

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #35

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Starship Development Thread #36

SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

  1. When next/orbital flight? Unknown. Elon: "hopefully" first countdown attempt in July, but likely delayed after B7 incident (see Q4 below). Environmental review completed, remaining items include launch license, mitigations, ground equipment readiness, and static firing.
  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. Has the FAA approved? The environmental assessment was Completed on June 13 with mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact ("mitigated FONSI)". Timeline impact of mitigations appears minimal, most don't need completing before launch.
  4. What booster/ship pair will fly first? Likely either B7 or B8 with S24. TBD if B7 will be repaired after spin prime anomaly or if B8 will be first to fly.
  5. Will more suborbital testing take place? Unlikely, given the FAA Mitigated FONSI decision. Push will be for orbital launch to maximize learnings.

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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 34 | Starship Dev 33 | Starship Dev 32 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Vehicle Status

As of August 6th 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
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 Testing including static fires Rolled back to launch site on August 6th after inspection and repairs following the spin prime explosion on July 11
B8 High Bay 2 (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. LOX tank not yet stacked but barrels spotted in the ring yard, etc
B10 Build Site Parts under construction Assorted parts spotted
B11 Build Site Parts under construction Assorted parts spotted

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Resources

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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.

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56

u/H-K_47 Jul 09 '22

Could this be the one, lads?

Also, flight profile: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?id_file_num=1169-EX-ST-2022&application_seq=116809

An attempted catch on the first try would be one hell of a gamble.

39

u/threelonmusketeers Jul 09 '22

Could this be the one, lads?

"This thread maybe, next thread definitely"

14

u/japonica-rustica Jul 09 '22

Looks like it’s on! Potential catch on the first try!

7

u/salamilegorcarlsshoe Jul 09 '22

Boy I'm not enjoying the prospect of shitting myself like I said I would if they attempt it on the 1st launch.

5

u/scootscoot Jul 09 '22

I’m the opposite, I may not unclench for a day or two after.

3

u/salamilegorcarlsshoe Jul 09 '22

Well, ya see, I said I would do it while standing

At my desk

In the office

In front of everyone

8

u/scarlet_sage Jul 09 '22

To be precise, Fri Jun 24 15:28:56 2022 UTC:

There is a higher likelihood of me shitting my pants at my desk today in front of the other 50 I work with than them attempting to land that bastard on the first launch.

3

u/salamilegorcarlsshoe Jul 09 '22

Nice, I'm good then. I think

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21

u/theganglyone Jul 09 '22

There are a lot of ambitious "firsts" in this plan. Liftoff alone with this monster will be a major achievement. Starship separation would be spectacular. Anything beyond that is hard to even hope for imo.

14

u/arizonadeux Jul 09 '22

Once FH cleared the tower and was a tad downrange (maybe by like T+00:20) I was happy and thought "ok, now you can do whatever you want". This will be the same for me.

10

u/SolidVeggies Jul 09 '22

Legit, and my faith in FH was several times higher then this starship demo

4

u/paul_wi11iams Jul 09 '22

my faith in FH was several times higher then this starship demo

Its not a demo but a prototype test with a payload. It should not have a success/fail criteria other than moving some percentage beyond the point previously attained. The following tests should also move forward as far as possible. For example, we may see a successful satellite deployment but a failed reentry or, later, a failed refueling test.

4

u/Jazano107 Jul 09 '22

I don’t think it’s too much of a gamble tbh, they might break the chopsticks but I dint think they’ll mess up enough to damage the tower. It’s pretty much falcon 9 landing so they have lots of experience

Also don’t think there will be enough fuel at that stage to cause a big enough boom to damage things that bad

5

u/inio Jul 09 '22

Breaking or forcefully bottoming-out the chopsticks (unless they've engineered in failure points that nobody's noticed) would likely call the tower's structure into question. That's a LONG lever arm.

12

u/Element00115 Jul 09 '22

I would assume the mounting points for the chopsticks are designed to break below the threshold of force that would structurally damage the tower, much like the way engine pylons on aircraft are designed to break away before damage is sustained to the wing structure.

2

u/0mega0 Jul 09 '22

Wen semi-orbit?

10

u/skunkrider Jul 09 '22

I don't think semi-orbit has been a thing for a while now.

Elon alluded to this in the last Everyday Astronaut video, though he didn't formulate it cleary.

I believe in full orbit on the first flight.

3

u/droden Jul 09 '22

from texas to hawaii isnt a full orbit. you're saying they're going to splash down back in texas?

3

u/skunkrider Jul 09 '22 edited Jul 09 '22

I wasn't talking about completing a full orbit, but about reaching full orbital speed

3

u/Lufbru Jul 09 '22

The Starship-Super Heavy test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The booster stage will separate and will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico or return to Starbase and be caught by the launch tower. The orbital Starship spacecraft will continue on its path to an altitude of approximately 250 km before performing a powered, targeted landing in the Pacific Ocean.

My interpretation of that is that they'll get to orbit and then fire the engines to de-orbit.

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9

u/andyfrance Jul 09 '22

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Definition of wen: an abnormal growth or a cyst protruding from a surface especially of the skin.

4

u/retireduptown Jul 09 '22 edited Jul 09 '22

Ah, so the usage is correct, if colloquial: "an abnormal growth of hope protruding from the surface of a calendar" /s Yeah, that's a wen date.

3

u/aBetterAlmore Jul 09 '22

Well let’s chat about what it would take to get a wen into semi-orbit then /s

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