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Mauricio was out with his camera near the SpaceX property line seeing what he could see, and discovered that this was observing him. So Mauricio photographed it.

Bugs famously grow bigger in Texas!



Multiple people have reported that when they leave the beach and cross the dunes toward the launch site, a big badass looking drone has told them in a loud voice that they are in a testing danger area and to return to the beach. This seems to be that drone, with a loudspeaker on its head and cameras.

https://twitter.com/TheRocketFuture/stat...9154937856

It's a high end custom model, looks like.

SpaceX has announced that they plan to conduct a full-on full-pressure test of the booster-bidet (Elon's water-cooled steel-plate) tomorrow (Friday July 28)

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1684685769406046210

(The earlier test, impressive as it was, was only a reduced-water, partial-pressure test.)

I think that the purpose of this crazy thing is twofold: first to reduce heating under what Elon called the world's biggest blowtorch, and second to disrupt the tremendous acoustic energy that would otherwise reflect back upwards and shake the rocket apart. (Which might be one reason why so many raptor engines failed on the first flight.)

Elon's upside down showerhead in action this afternoon!

Way to go, Pancake!

Video by Mauricio

(Jul 28, 2023 08:20 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Elon's upside down showerhead in action this afternoon!

Way to go, Pancake!

Video by Mauricio

Hooda thought there would ever be a rocket powerful enough to shred the foundation of its launch pad and have kickback that could damage the engines? Requiring an Old Faithful eruption to be installed underneath it.

In contrast:

The first SLS launch caused damage to the launch pad. How bad was it?
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-sls-pad-bad.html

"The damage that we did see pertain to really just a couple areas on the 'Zero Deck,'" said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I's mission manager, at a press conference on November 21, referring to the section of the Mobile Launcher Platform that bears the brunt of the rocket engines at liftoff.

Damage included discoloration and peeling of paint on the pad, two cameras that were rendered inoperable, as well as the destruction of a pair of elevator doors, blown out by the intense pressure at launch. The upper levels of the mobile launcher are currently only accessible by stairs, and the elevators will take several months to repair.

So much money the US is saving China in terms of knowing ahead of time what to expect and how to avoid the problems.

SpaceX posted a slo-mo drone video of the deluge test to X (formerly Twitter) today. And Tasmanian space youtuber Marcus House noticed something early in the video when the spray was just starting - the spray from the pancake appears to come from spots on the plate corresponding to the booster's 33 engines. Marcus says "It is a real thing of beauty."

What Marcus noticed:

Another big water tank has been spotted in Kansas on its way to Starbase. My guess is that yesterday's test demonstrated the maximum flow-rate, but not the maximum duration. Another tank is necessary to achieve that.



People admiring it



Here's its mates, already in position to supply the deluge

Here's video of IFT-1 taken from NASA's WB-57 which was aloft filming the flight.

It starts with a fairly normal looking ascent (if a rocket this big can ever be called 'normal'). We see what SpaceX called an "energetic event" in which it appears that an engine fails explosively. Soon after that the exhaust plume which had been almost transparent becomes brightly incandescent. My guess is that is hydraulic fluid from the failed Hydraulic Power Units leaking into the plume. We see the result almost immediately as the booster loses its hydraulic actuated thrust vector control and starts to veer crazily. Soon the full-stack is tumbling end-over-end at hypersonic velocity with its engines still running.

This is notable because prior to launch there was some concern that the rocket design wouldn't be strong enough and that it would come apart at Max-Q. But not only did it pass through Max-Q without a complaint, it proceeded to execute (unintended and uncommanded) maneuvers that few other rockets could do without flying apart. So if it accomplished anything, IFT-1 proved the strength of the basic design. Kudos to the engineers.

At that point as it's tumbling, plumes of vapor are visible from the side of the vehicle. Speculation is that was due to the flight termination system explosive charges blowing holes in the rocket and propellant escaping. The intention was that the rocket would immediately explode when the FTS went off, but it seems to have survived in one piece for another 30 seconds or so after the FTS activation, before it finally exploded as fuel and oxidizer mixed.

So the Starship proved extraordinarily hard to kill. There was a whole cascade of problems with the flight (all of which can and are being addressed) but the thing defiantly powered on through each one and refused to quit.

Aerial panorama of Starbase from Massey's at the top to the launch area at the bottom, with the build area in the middle.

(The windy river just to the left of Massey's is the Rio Grande and the border with Mexico.)

Photo by Mauricio (You can blow it up to see lots of detail.)

Lots of talk that a 33 engine static fire combined with deluge is planned for tomorrow (Sunday August 6). There's really no other way to test if the new deluge works, except to try it on real rocket blast. If it happens, it should be spectacular: fire, water and plenty of steam.

Preparations do seem to be underway. Workers have been moving vehicles and equipment away from the booster and OLM to reduce the threat of damage. It's expected that Ship 25 will be moved from the suborbital pads back to the build site tonight (a road closure for the move has been announced).

The launch site already seems kind of deserted, without the swarming workers that are usually there.

(Screenshot from LabPadre's 180 degree VR cam)

Looks like tomorrow's static fire is confirmed. Over-pressure warnings have gone out.