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The Congressional subcommittee hearing on Promoting Safety, Innovation and Competitiveness in US Commercial Human Space Activities that Eric Berger wrote about yesterday will be here at 2 PM eastern/ 11 AM pacific

(Oct 19, 2023 05:37 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGf5NFxotaU

As much as Trump liked to sit on and incubate petty grudges in his own juvenile way, too, I can't imagine him allowing US space superiority to go down the drain over one of them.

Part of the new factory building at Starbase that's currently under construction illuminated at night. It's very extensive, this is just the newest part that fronts on the road. Most of the building isn't visible in this photo. It's expected to grow larger too, and expand to the left eventually.

The soon-to-be legendary era of Texas boys in pickups building giant spaceships in tents or even out in a dusty field is drawing to a close (the pickups still remain, visible at the lower right).

(Photo by the spacegirlsRGV)

Here's an aerial photograph of the whole extent of the new factory, taken by Mauricio's sister Irma Atilano. The part in the night photo above is at the lower right in this one.

It's expected that the factory will expand into most of the large cleared area where two of the three former giant tents once stood. Early foundation work and trenching for electrical and utility lines is visible in this area, which will be concreted over at some point. They seem to be building around the third and final giant tent for reasons unknown. This is the tent where nosecones are manufactured, and they might not want to halt that work until they are ready to move it into the new factory.

Then I expect that tent to disappear and the by-then Tesla gigafactory size building to finally take the shape of a giant square. (With an indentation at the lower right where a property owner refuses to sell his lot except for an exorbitant price (multiple millions) that SpaceX doesn't want to pay.)

Actually, there's an additional giant tent not visible in this photo, the parts-and-inventory tent located off to the lower left beyond the parking lot behind the high-bay. It's filled with huge steel racks filled with... stuff... like a giant Home Depot for Spaceships! They got all the cryogenic valves you could possibly need.

Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities CCSC-2 timelines! It gives a good idea of what kind of new capabilities NASA would like the commercial space industry to provide.

SpaceX

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Blue Origin

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Vast Space

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Think Orbital

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Sierra Space

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Northrop Grumman

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

Special Aerospace Services

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/...signed.pdf

I think that this is in addition to the HLS contract that has its own milestones. This is general engineering research stuff that can be of use to NASA. It includes comparison of SpaceX space medicine data for their private astronauts with Johnson Space Center data for NASA. There's information sharing with NASA about storage of cryo propellants in orbit for extended periods. (Gas stations in space!) There's talk about using Starships to access, recover and service other spacecraft. (Mechanics in space!) There's talk about using their huge internal volume as LEO space stations.

Here's some of of SpaceX's milestones:

Absolutely beautiful photo by Carlos Nunez

The last remaining step before launch was successfully completed today - a full "wet dress rehearsal" (WDR), a full rehearsal of a launch, complete with fully fueling the vehicle, evacuating Starbase, and proceding step by step through the countdown, except for ignition and launch at the end.

The only roadblock for launch now is federal government approval. It's anyone's guess when that is coming.

The FAA says 'Hey it isn't us. We are waiting on the Fish and Wildlife Service!' Why they are waiting on the FWS remains unanswered. Nor do we know why the FWS is moving so slowly.

We can speculate though. We all know that Elon is very unpopular in Washington DC right now, so I suspect that pressure is being exerted on the FAA to hurt Elon out of spite. (In today's Washington, all federal agencies have been weaponized against perceived political enemies.) Of course NASA and the Space Force are probably pulling the other way, since they need Starship. NASA certainly doesn't want its tent-pole Artemis Moon project to fall victim to petty partisan politics.

(SpaceX photo)

Photo of Starbase taken April 3, 2016 by Carlos Nunez (Starbase Surfer @cnunezimages)

Pretty amazing how much has happened since then! There's a giant factory, three tall assembly bays, all kinds of additional buildings for offices, plumbing, ground equipment fabrication and payload integration, the rocket garden, the inventory and nosecone tents, engine installation stands, test stands and cryo tanks at both the launch area and Masseys, Elon's Ad Astra school, Boca Chica village doubling in size... and a giant orbital launch complex straight out of science fiction!



Photo from Cessna by Irma Atilano



SpaceX photo

Latest statement from the FAA regarding Starship. They say that they have completed their safety review, but are still awaiting the results of the Fish and Wildlife Service's environmental review.



(Translation: Don't hold your breath, but don't blame us for any delays.)

The FWS approved IFT-1. The only significant change since then is addition of the water deluge. Apparently environmental activists are complaining that some of the water will flow into the surrounding wetlands, making them wetter or something. Rain does that naturally, but never mind. (We all know that it's political.)