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BCG's Sunday morning photos show a bunch of guys in hardhats and orange and yellow vests clustered about one of the Hopper's two umbilical disconnect structures.

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/...2033804289

Still no NOTAM's/TFR's posted, despite a road closure on tap for tomorrow. So my guess is that tomorrow might just be fuel transfer and pressurization tests (in hopes of ensuring that there are no more giant fireballs).

I'm hoping that the thing will finally fly on Wednesday.

Mary/BCG says that she just can't get enough of the Boca Chica Starship prototype's fuel tank bulkhead!

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/...5819513856

The way to a woman's heart... Who knew??

Edit: Looking at Mary's video of them moving the bulkhead, I'm starting to see what she sees in it. It's a giant stainless steel optical illusion! As you look at it, it switches back and forth between appearing convex and concave. One moment it's bulging out, the next moment it's cupped in. Is the top moving closer to the camera or the bottom? Kind of mind-boggling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c02HKkK...e=youtu.be

Current photo of the Florida site and its Starship prototype under construction.

The new development is the construction of a tall new mystery building.

(Jul 22, 2019 01:39 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Current photo of the Florida site and its Starship prototype under construction.

If it was a Starship beauty contest instead of a performance one, little doubt which version would win that. (As long the competition wasn't tilted toward a vintage theme of rockets with patchwork surfaces, as if scrapped together in backyards.)

(Jul 22, 2019 04:57 AM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]If it was a Starship beauty contest instead of a performance one, little doubt which version would win that.

True. The Florida Starship just looks like a spaceship is supposed to look.

I think that the Florida crew includes lots of people with experience fabricating rockets for NASA. So they already know all the best-practices. The Texas crew seemed to be making it up as they went.

And I see that the Texas crew has adopted some of the Florida construction techniques, like constructing with rings rather than welding on individual plates.

I worry a bit that the ugliness of the Boca Chica version is going to turn into problems during supersonic flight and reentry. Plates that don't quite fit and have small gaps between them, bad welds and stuff like that. Put that in hypersonic airflow with hot plasma streaming over it...

We all know what happened to Space Shuttle Columbia due to a small hole in its wing.

So they seem to have three vehicles in successive stages of perfection: 1. The crude Starhopper, basically a flying water-tower. This one seems to be for low altitude engine control experiments. 2. The Boca Chica Starship. This one might fly to 50-60,000 feet and then land again propulsively. It will approximate the size, aerodynamics and weight distribution of the final vehicle, but I doubt if it will ever get close to orbital velocity. and 3. The more developed Florida Starship. This will probably be the one they use to explore higher-speed reentry from space, heat shielding etc.

The FAA has just (within the last half hour) issued a new NOTAM announcing Temporary Flight Restrictions for Boca Chica for Wednesday 7-24 and Thursday 7-25. This corresponds to the previously announced road closures on those days.

https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_9_5893.html

There's also supposed to be a road closure this evening. Nothing unusual seems to be happening at the present time and the road is currently open.

Edit:

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal

Mary is reporting that the road is now closed. She saw some SpaceX vehicles go down to the pad, but now they've left again.

Speculation is that tonight will be fueling and pressurization tests to ensure there are no more leaks.

Live stream here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFwMITS...6PoJoh1OUQ

(Jul 22, 2019 09:22 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Speculation is that tonight will be fueling and pressurization tests to ensure there are no more leaks.

I'm not sure whether they performed fueling and pressurization tests at all yesterday. No big flame-stack flares or visible vapor venting. All that was visible was testing of the surplus Falcon 9 maneuvering thrusters that were installed a couple of months ago.

As always, the indefatigable Mary/BCG was on the scene and captured video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...AAPE79iOqE

Mary also has photographs from this morning showing them installing a new fire-fighting nozzle not far from one of the umbilical disconnects and aimed squarely at it. Meanwhile a group of guys in hardhats and orange/yellow vests is huddled around the umbilical disconnect that the new nozzle is pointed at.

(Jul 22, 2019 08:12 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]

(Jul 22, 2019 04:57 AM)C C Wrote: [ -> ]If it was a Starship beauty contest instead of a performance one, little doubt which version would win that.

I worry a bit that the ugliness of the Boca Chica version is going to turn into problems during supersonic flight and reentry. Plates that don't quite fit and have small gaps between them, bad welds and stuff like that.

It is quite possible that none of these prototypes will fly with the booster.  SpaceX has a habit of destroying prototypes.

(Jul 23, 2019 08:58 PM)billvon Wrote: [ -> ]It is quite possible that none of these prototypes will fly with the booster.

They haven't even started building a Falcon Super Heavy (the giant booster) prototype yet. And they will probably want to test fly it and try to land it, before they put the Starship second stage atop it.  

I expect them to build the booster in Florida where it can be launched with Cape Canaveral infrastructure. There's lots of discussion about which pad they will use and the pad modifications that will require.

But Elon says that the second stage (the Starship) should be able to achieve orbit by itself SSTO-style, something that's never been done before. The problem is that it wouldn't be able to carry any payload and wouldn't have fuel in reserve to return to Earth. So Elon says that SpaceX isn't planning on these prototypes going into orbit by themselves.

But they certainly should be able to make it to space on a sub-orbital trajectory and then return and land. That's what the Falcon 9 boosters already do. So that's the most ambitious flight-plan that I imagine these Starship prototypes doing, at least until the booster appears and the Starship is stacked atop it.

Quote:SpaceX has a habit of destroying prototypes.

Yes, it's true.

So they may push the rather crude Boca Chica prototype as hard as they can, get as much data from it as possible, while considering it ultimately expendable. I still worry that it might not be up to even suborbital spaceflight though. They may restrict it to flying to maybe 60,000 feet (Elon said the "Mark 1" Starship prototype is aiming at 20 km) then returning for a propulsive landing.

Today's the big day in Boca Chica.

The road is apparently still open as I write this.

And one of the most iconic figures in space travel is there (or one of his many twin brothers):

https://twitter.com/TylerG1998/status/11...6818360320

Here's where one of the live-streams will be. (Everyday Astronaut will apparently have another.) Labpadre's stream is already going even though the Hopper experiment isn't likely to happen until around (or maybe after) sundown. I don't really expect it until after 8 PM CDT (6 PM PDT/9 PM EDT) But I'll have to keep checking in to make sure.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFwMITS...6PoJoh1OUQ

Edit 5:20 CDT: Pad is clear, roadblocks are up and the road is closed.

Edit 6:55 CDT: Inside source apparently says that fuel loading has begun. Some minor vapor venting from what looks like a pressure valve on the hopper's side. Mary/BCG says she hears the distinctive pump sound that she hears when they are moving fuel around.

Edit 7:09 CDT: Labpadre's stream shows jam of cars at the roadblock. Spectators are gathering. The chat on the livestream is hugely international. Viewers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, from Poland, UK, and the Netherlands, from Morocco, Surinam and even Syria! The Russians say that a Russian space TV show was showing the scrubbed Falcon 9 launch live and when it went off, it told viewers about Labpadre's stream. So a big crowd of Russian space geeks tuned in.

Edit 7:50 CDT: SpaceX started their own stream a few minutes before ignition here.

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

When the engine lit, it only ran for about a second then apparently aborted and shut off. There was a lot of flame around what appeared to be a pressure relief valve near the top of the vehicle but that didn't last long. I gather that the big release of methane from the top was probably by design, to relieve the fuel tank pressurization.

Video (from the SpaceX stream) here:

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...2397461504

Edit 8:30 CDT: Inside SX source reportedly tells NSF that a recycle is being assessed and a decision being made whether to take another shot this evening or whether to go on a later date. (Tomorrow is their backup day.) Pad is still cleared as I write this.

Edit 9:10 CDT: Pad lighting on. Occasional venting of vapor from the vehicle, probably pressure relief as the cryogenic fuel and LOX warm up. Pad still clear.

Edit 9:20 CDT: Chris Bergin (who has very good inside sources) says that a decision has been made and preparations for another try tonight are underway.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...8487974912

Edit 9:45 CDT: SpaceX camera drone is once again overhead. Something may be happening soon.

Edit 10:00 CDT: Per Chris Bergin they are "working an issue" and the countdown is currently on hold. SpaceX camera drone has landed.

Edit 10:25 CDT: Scrub.

(Jul 24, 2019 09:06 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Today's the big day in Boca Chica.

The road is apparently still open as I write this.

And one of the most iconic figures in space travel is there (or one of his many twin brothers):

https://twitter.com/TylerG1998/status/11...6818360320

Here's where one of the live-streams will be. (Everyday Astronaut will apparently have another.) Labpadre's stream is already going even though the Hopper experiment isn't likely to happen until around (or maybe after) sundown. I don't really expect it until after 8 PM CDT (6 PM PDT/9 PM EDT) But I'll have to keep checking in to make sure.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFwMITS...6PoJoh1OUQ

Edit 5:20 CDT: Pad is clear, roadblocks are up and the road is closed.

Edit 6:55 CDT: Inside source apparently says that fuel loading has begun. Some minor vapor venting from what looks like a pressure valve on the hopper's side. Mary/BCG says she hears the distinctive pump sound that she hears when they are moving fuel around.

Edit 7:09 CDT: Labpadre's stream shows jam of cars at the roadblock. Spectators are gathering. The chat on the livestream is hugely international. Viewers from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, from Poland, UK, and the Netherlands, from Morocco, Surinam and even Syria! The Russians say that a Russian space TV show was showing the scrubbed Falcon 9 launch live and when it went off, it told viewers about Labpadre's stream. So a big crowd of Russian space geeks tuned in.

Aborted for today.  Some dramatic venting of methane but no liftoff.