BFR Developments

Today they conducted what appeared to be a successful six engine static fire on 20.

Then soon afterwards LabPadre's robot camera saw this sight. It was Apollo the robodog with an arm instead of a head (Zeus has a camera head) pulling an object on a little skateboard-like cart that proved to be a gas analyzer for detecting the presence of toxic gases.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0yxlcQjIF9E

This evening, while the launch site was largely deserted for the new years holiday, the Mechazilla catcher arms unexpectedly moved up and down for the first time! It was just a small movement, only a meter or two, evidently to test the lifting arrangements. But if SPX are happy with how it went, expect bigger movements in days to come. As Dr. Frankenstein famously shouted, "It's Alive!!!"

https://twitter.com/LabPadre/status/1477876134012325888

They conducted motion tests on the crazy catcher arms last night. Exciting to watch, even though the video below is time lapse and the motions were much slower.

If you look closely you can see the booster quick disconnect moving on the launch platform as well. And there's a small red light that buzzes around in the air for a while. That was the SpaceX photographic drone.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/tiuLI8t5JWU

(Jan 5, 2022 09:14 PM)Yazata Wrote: They conducted motion tests on the crazy catcher arms last night. Exciting to watch, even though the video below is time lapse and the motions were much slower.

If you look closely you can see the booster quick disconnect moving on the launch platform as well. And there's a small red light that buzzes around in the air for a while. That was the SpaceX photographic drone.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/tiuLI8t5JWU

Ah-ha. Maybe UAPs are just drones (and other craft) that are hyper-accelerated in time like the Scalosians of Star Trek. 

3rd Season - Episode 11: "Wink of an Eye"
Original Trailer: https://youtu.be/ZScpGy4ORzU

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Q9_RvU1PdlY

Crazy Catcher Arms are on the move again. Almost up at the top of the tower.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/5HpgJJ1FwTc

Mechazilla crazy catcher arm movements yesterday. The ship quick disconnect (SQD) arm was waving around too. Actual movements were much slower than this speeded up video clip

https://twitter.com/i/status/1480331630103257091

And Elon posted this video clip shot from the SpaceX camera drone.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1480326831031173124

Closeup of one of the rails it runs on, on one of the tower legs

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/stat...2131290119

Today's event is huge bags filled with water hanging from a cross-beam between the crazy catcher arms, simulating the weight of a spaceship dangling there. I'm told that this water-bag method is sometimes used to verify the lifting capacity of cranes.

Screenshot from the nasaspaceflight.com 24 hour stream

Yesterday's events were a double-header. Opening act was a police drama! It featured both the local Sheriffs and SpaceX security clearing out somebody camping dangerously close to the launch site in an RV during a road closure for testing.

Then came the testing, which proved to be a test-to-failure of a test tank. Unexpectedly spectacular too. As it was filled with liquid nitrogen the tank frosted up and vented furiously. Then came loud popping sounds, apparently as it swelled. Finally an explosive rupture that released a tsunami of liquid nitrogen that scattered debris, including a bunch of porta-potties all over the road. The wave of boiling cryo fluid (liquid nitrogen boils at -320 degrees F/- 196 degrees C) finally engulfed Lab Padre's Rover 2.0 camera mounted on a truck parked on the far side of the road. The camera emerged unscathed and is working fine today. (The video below would make a good ad by the camera manufacturer.)

Time-lapse video (or maybe an accurate depiction of time inside Elon's reality-distortion field where he wants things to move fast) from Rover 2.0, then views of the tank bursting from two other of Lab's cameras in other locations. Thrills and virtual chills for 1000+ remote viewers.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/V1Z21JnKHwY

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Has my vote for the best TTF or PTF yet.

Today the launch site was pretty deserted. There's a cold front plowing through and its rainy and about 40 degrees F with 30 mph winds. (Maybe all the liquid nitrogen gave the place a cold.)

But something interesting was happening at the Sanchez site on the far (western) side of the build site. Several serious looking trucks and a crew from Fesco Petroleum Engineers arrived. It seems that this company specializes in petroleum industry well "completions". This seems to be the process for a well that has already been drilled, where a well-head is installed and the well is prepared to produce. The relevance here is that it's known that there are two non-producing natural gas wells on the Sanchez property. I assume they are capped off. Ownership of the wells is disputed and has been the subject of a court case. If SpaceX has acquired ownership or has made a deal with whoever has, they may be preparing to get the wells producing natural gas again. They will need specialized expertise for that, hence Fesco. It's known that's the long term SpaceX plan and some of the gear for a natural gas purification refinery is already on-site, to refine natural gas down to pure methane. Liquify it, and voila! Rocket fuel! Food for the Raptors.