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They just moved the would-be SN7 turned test-tank down to the launch area atop the blue Roll Lift crawler

Road closures announced for Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 16th, 8 AM - 5 PM CDT.

Screenshot from Lab Padre's live-stream.



Here's a recorded video from a live stream (now concluded) from NSF.

Plus in the second half, some bonus coverage of solid rocket booster segments for the Space Launch System (NASA's over budget, behind schedule and not reusable... but nevertheless very cool and very impressive... new Moon Rocket) arriving at Kennedy Space Center at the same time. (Entertainment for nerds.) The solid rocket boosters are manufactured in Utah and shipped by rail to KSC in sections that are stacked there. It's historic, since KSC hasn't seen big solid rocket boosters like this for ten years, since the Shuttle. It's the same Utah plant that made those solid rocket boosters for the Shuttle, except that the company was ATK then, then it became Orbital ATK, and now it's a division of Northrup Grumman.



Mary asking a cement truck that suddenly pulled up and was blocking her camera to move - it did (from the beginning of the NSF stream). The new test stand is visible behind the yellow crane. A white storage tank is behind it. Note the tall grey tank almost obscured by the cement truck (just to the truck's left). It's new this week.



SLS (NASA graphic)



Edit: Just found this very well done video from NASA showing the solid rocket parts' journey from Northrup Grumman in Utah to Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral for NASA's new Moon Rocket to (hopefully) deliver people back to the Moon by 2024.

More big news from Mary, this time concerning a delivery to the build area. It was a large flatbed truck carrying oversize-load mystery objects wrapped in a black plastic tarp. From their overall shape, they really look like fins. Presumably manufactured elsewhere (California?) and trucked in. Is SN5 or SN6 going to get its long anticipated aerosurfaces? From a small area where the tarp had parted, they didn't look all riveted together like the Mk1 fins, perhaps smoother.

SN5 has emerged from the High Bay (on the blue crawler) and appears to currently be sitting atop its stubby little landing legs in front of the Bay. Meanwhile Big Grove (one of the big cranes - Grove is its manufacturer and it has 'Grove' written on it) has lifted the SN6 thrust section (thrust dome sleeved in rings with skirt below and assorted plumbing attached) and placed it where SN5 recently was in the High Bay. The rest of the SN6 tank section will soon be stacked atop it.

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/...3634768897

https://www.manitowoccranes.com/en/crane...in/GMK7550

There doesn't seem to be any rush to move SN5 to the launch area, since the new test tank is currently there. I think that the reason SN5 emerged was because they needed the High Bay space for SN6.

Speculation now is that SN5 will receive one engine and will complete SN4's test program (assuming it survives). That should include a 150m hop and if it survives that, maybe a higher flight to 300m or something like that.

The expectation is that SN6 will get three engines, the nose and fins, and might fly the 20 km mission that includes the unorthodox "belly flop" (SpaceX prefers "skydiver") landing where if falls sideways until it's only about 1000 feet up, then does an abrupt pitch up (nose up) maneuver and completes the landing propulsively. That will require restarting the engines in flight, another challenge. Restarting works OK with the Falcon Merlins, but early not-quite-perfected Raptors might be more tempermental. If the landing works, it will be something to see, truly spectacular. And if Starship crashes, that will be spectacular too.

There are even more rocket parts being cranked out in the tents, presumably for more follow-on Starships. No indication yet of a Superheavy under construction, but it might be hard for onlookers to tell at the early stages.

The new Giant High-Bay hasn't started construction yet. Or maybe it has and they are still working preparing foundations. Again, hard to tell.

Mary's 7 minute Sunday compilation video. Starts with the SN6 thrust segment being moved to the High Bay (on the far left in the photo below with the crane attached), then shifts to the launch area showing the busy activity at the new test stand, its hydraulic ram thrust simulaters for cryo-tests, the test tank with remote control pressure valves on top, insulated hose at the bottom to feed liquid nitrogen in, and the blue hold down ties in case it pops. Then a glimpse of the new methane condenser that replaces the sadly-lamented flare stack that used to give people an idea of what was happening by the size of the flare (condenser is to the right of the tall white tank in the photo below), and finally some shots of the pile auger at the Superheavy site. There will be road closures starting Monday and I assume that means the A.H. Beck pile drilling guys will have to leave too when the pad is cleared.



Photo showing SN5 outside the High Bay from Lab Padre's live-stream, as Big Grove reaches into the High Bay.

Both Nomadd and Mary report that SN6 has already been stacked, with the top of the tank section mated with the thrust section.

https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/...6590499841

From Nomadd's photos, SN6 looks like a cleaner build than SN5 which is still near it for comparison.

Edit: And Mary has visual evidence of an interesting new hire for the SpaceX security team at Boca. The name on the guard house is Zeus. Nobody has seen him yet.

Photo off Twitter by Mary/Bocachicagal

Ambient temperature gas testing of the test tank seems to have occurred last night.

Right now the road is closed and cryo liquid nitrogen testing is underway.

Speculation whether they intend to test this tank to failure to see what the new steel and weld's limits are.

Edit Elon has just told Eric Berger of Ars Technica that they do in fact plan to test to destruction.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1272624859705565184

Edit: 4:10 CDT - Big cloud of vapor at top of test tank, so big as to obscure everything. When it subsided, the tank still looked intact, but there was leakage from the top dome. Looked to me like a seam split, but only for a few feet. Nothing really dramatic or catastrophic. Probably could be repaired, if that was the intention.

Whether the day was successful or not probably depends on what pressure the tank reached. Given that it held pressure for hours while I expect that they were gradually cranking it up, it might have gotten fairly high.

Elon's report on the results

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1272651781630095360

"Tank didn't burst, but leaked at 7.6 bar. This is a good result & supports idea of 304L stainless being better than 301. We're developing our own alloy to take this even further. Leak before burst is highly desirable."

Today Mary and Nomadd got up close and personal with the test tank and frankly couldn't see yesterday's hole. Their photos suggest that it ruptured for a short distance along a weld. It should be reasonably easy to repair if they want to.

Maybe they don't. Elon has said that this one had known weaknesses and that they are preparing a second improved test tank. Don't know when it will be ready.

But something will be heading to the launch area tomorrow 8 AM - 9 AM local. I'm guessing SN5. They are still working busily on the test stand today (Tuesday).

Then an all day road closure is scheduled for Friday with backup days on Monday and Tuesday. The application for the road closure says ambient and cryo proof testing and static fire. A test tank can't static fire.

So they are moving right along.

Meanwhile another really Super Giant Crane is making its appearance in pieces for assembly at the work site. This one is a Manitowok 18000, with a boom extendable with jibs to 500 feet and able to lift 750 tons. They probably need it for the new Giant Highbay.

Elon seems to love cranes as much as he loves Giant Tents and boomlifts. Can't have enough of 'em. (He seems to have rounded up half the boomlifts in Texas!)

(Jun 15, 2020 05:11 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]And Mary has visual evidence of an interesting new hire for the SpaceX security team at Boca. The name on the guard house is Zeus. Nobody has seen him yet.

Photo off Twitter by Mary/Bocachicagal

Now they have... mercilessly blown up screen shot of the launch area from the Lab Padre stream showing what everyone assumes is Zeus

He's a totally Elon breed of dog, a Boston Dynamics Spot Robot. I'm guessing that Zeus' responsibilities aren't primarily security. He's probably supposed to inspect a fueled vehicle and its ground support connections when they aren't behaving as expected, things risk becoming explosive and the pad isn't considered safe for humans (or flesh-and-blood dogs) to approach.

Interestingly, Spot robots only went on sale today June 16. Though when Elon Musk calls and says he wants to buy one, he can probably get one delivered early.

I can just imagine my dog barking feverishly at Zeus for territorial encroachment. They had better purchase Hera soon to keep an eye on him, because Zeus was infamous for straying away from his duties to sow seed hither and thither among the mortal population.

Lab Padre just posted a video of Zeus in action. It's uncanny how biological its movements look.



SN5's anticipated move to the launch area this morning didn't happen. Instead, SN5 is back in the highbay.

Here's a photo by Mary showing SN5 on the right and SN6 on the left. The improvement between iterations is obvious. SN6 is much smoother, without the obvious dent visible on SN5 about four rings from the top. (It's expected that will pop out when the CH4 tank is pressurized.) Mary points out that this is the first time that they have had two on hand at once.



https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/...6503522308