YazataNov 14, 2022 08:36 PM (This post was last modified: Nov 15, 2022 04:10 AM by Yazata.)
SpaceX just conducted a successful "full-test-duration" 14-engine Static Fire at Starbase. It was incredibly forceful and knocked Lab Padre's closeup rover-2 camera over. Gravel, ice and (maybe) concrete bits could be heard hitting around the camera. It was actually a little scary to watch all that unleashed energy.
And that's just 14 of 33 engines! Despite this only being a static fire of less than half the engines, it still would have produced 3,220 tons of force (230t per Raptor2 x 14).
The SLS 1st stage produces a grand total of 4,116 tons of force, including both its solid and liquid fueled engines. So this partial test still produced more than 3/4 the power of the SLS.
Firing all 33 engines should produce 7,590 tons of thrust (230t x 33)!!! 84% more than SLS, easily making it the most powerful rocket ever made by mankind.
YazataNov 15, 2022 07:26 PM (This post was last modified: Nov 16, 2022 03:14 AM by Yazata.)
Big personnel moves at Starbase.
Elon has been living there in a modest house in Boca Chica. But after the Twitter acquisition, he's been spending most of his time in San Francisco. He hasn't forgotten Tesla, their old headquarters (before the move to Austin) is in nearby Palo Alto and many Tesla employees still work there. So Elon can just scoot down the 280 Interstate to an office at Tesla which he has been doing.
But Starbase needs the attention that he temporarily can't give it. So Gwynne has been assigned to oversee Starbase for the interim. It isn't clear if she will be moving there, or running it from her lair in Hawthorne. Probably the latter, since her husband works at JPL.
I should add that probably the biggest remaining hurdle standing in the way of a Starbase orbital test flight is the federal government. And Gwynne is much better than Elon at shmoozing government, military and business officials. (She's been in charge of commercializing Falcon 9 and getting it launch contracts.) She moves comfortably in that world and Elon is more of the bull in the china shop.
And Sam Patel, the guy in charge of construction at Starbase (it's nothing if not a huge construction site) is being reassigned to oversee the construction currently taking place at Cape Canaveral. Which may or may not suggest that Starbase has reached its final form, at least temporarily.
Two of the people that Elon obviously has greatest confidence in.
YazataNov 27, 2022 08:02 AM (This post was last modified: Nov 27, 2022 08:07 AM by Yazata.)
People have been examining the views of Starbase in that little 90 second Starbase overview video that came out a while back. And looking at stills of the control room have revealed SpaceX's secret! Listen up, NASA!
An Easy Button!! Seems obvious, right? Having trouble landing your spaceship? Push the Easy Button!
YazataNov 29, 2022 10:09 PM (This post was last modified: Nov 30, 2022 03:39 AM by Yazata.)
Superheavy B7 underwent another very powerful static fire this morning (Tuesday 11-29-22) at Starbase
Based on some earlier remarks by Elon, it's believed that today's test was a test of the autogeneous pressurization system that uses bleed gas from the engines to pressurize the propellant tanks. While it's obvious that multiple engines fired, the exact number of engines fired in this test remains unknown for the time being. The duration of the burn seems to have been approximately 12-13 seconds.
You could tell that something big was about to happen when crowds of SpaceX workers came out of the build site (in the background) to watch.
Edit: SpaceX has tweeted that it was 11 engines this time. (1/3 of the total.)
YazataDec 1, 2022 07:23 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 1, 2022 07:29 AM by Yazata.)
The paint was burned off the Orbital Launch Mount legs but all in all, the OLM doesn't look seriously damaged by Tuesday's 11 engine static fire. Of more concern is the condition of the concrete underneath. It spalled badly during the recent 14 engine static fire and had been replaced by a new high-tech concrete supposedly able to withstand very high temperatures. There did seem to be less debris shot around everywhere by this SF. See how all the pipes and conduits running up the legs have received armor protection.
The first levels of the Orbital Launch and Integration Tower (OLIT) in the background have been armored too.
YazataDec 3, 2022 05:13 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 3, 2022 10:35 PM by Yazata.)
Cosmic Perspective are known for making Starbase videos that are works of art.
This one includes a real time video of the latest Static Fire. Then it show a super slo-mo of the engine ignition. We see the "Firex" suppression system where the launch mount floods the area under the rocket with a water mist mixed with nitrogen gas, to help prevent fire and explosive events like were seen in earlier tests. Then we watch the engines igniting from several angles. They don't ignite all at once though it looks like that to the naked eye. They ignite in a staggered start miliseconds apart, which one can clearly see here.
YazataDec 24, 2022 08:15 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 24, 2022 08:26 AM by Yazata.)
Photo by RGV Aerial Photography's Mauricio taken only a couple of days ago, showing SpaceX's new facility called Masseys, at the former Massey's shooting range. The shooting range moved to a new site closer to Brownsville after SpaceX bought this property. Reportedly, SpaceX has bought a number of other private properties in this area, but most of the land on the US side is federal.
This is about 5 miles west of the Build Site inside an oxbow lake on the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is the river winding from the lower right to the upper middle. The Build and Launch sites are obscured in the fog at the top. Mexico is to the right of the river.
The metal can in the center of the site is a starship test tank on the "can crusher", a test rig that uses hydraulic pistons to create huge compressive loads. Behind the test tank several horizontal liquid nitrogen tanks are visible. And to the right of them concrete pads and fittings for additional tanks are going in. Those tanks, 3 of them, are visible in the foreground. (These are indeed the same tanks seen leaving Cape Canaveral several weeks ago!) They appear to be LOX and LCH4 tanks. So pretty clearly Masseys isn't just intended for liquid nitrogen cryo pressure tests. They seem to intend to construct at least one Raptor test stand here as well. The site seems pretty small for engine test fires and it isn't clear why they would want to do it here rather than McGregor. McGregor is fully equipped for engine testing and it's huge.
At the far left by the cell phone tower the old gun club building has been torn down. It's still unclear if it will be replaced by a new building. Right now, apart from lots of shipping containers, there's just one double wide that may be a contractor's office. In the lower right is a storage area with a white tent to provide some protection from the elements. And in the far lower right is a water reverse osmosis facility that draws water from the Rio Grande and purifies it.
Most of the things Elon does seem to have a Mars angle: Self-driving EVs and Teslabots to prepare infrastructure for first humans. Boring company tunneling machines digging underground radiation protected habitats. Starlink to provide a revenue stream able to pay for it...
And how far we've come!
This was Starbase 4 years ago today. All of it! (Photo by Austin Bernard, a young space nut who haunted the place and now works at Starbase! Installing heat shield tiles I believe.)
Nov 14, 2022 08:36 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 15, 2022 04:10 AM by Yazata.)
![[Image: FhjAKr7UoAA9MQ_?format=jpg&name=large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhjAKr7UoAA9MQ_?format=jpg&name=large)
![[Image: Fhi77EsWIAUZJsY?format=jpg&name=large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fhi77EsWIAUZJsY?format=jpg&name=large)
![[Image: FhUW0qyXgAAmk1h?format=jpg&name=900x900]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhUW0qyXgAAmk1h?format=jpg&name=900x900)
![[Image: FgvgXN1UAAA3rC5?format=jpg&name=large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FgvgXN1UAAA3rC5?format=jpg&name=large)
![[Image: FiwubhUUoAAiD53?format=jpg&name=large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiwubhUUoAAiD53?format=jpg&name=large)
![[Image: FixprEdX0AM9Xsj?format=jpg&name=small]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FixprEdX0AM9Xsj?format=jpg&name=small)
![[Image: Fi3gZsGWIAI2SNd?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fi3gZsGWIAI2SNd?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
![[Image: FkrsmzUWAAoJgMx?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkrsmzUWAAoJgMx?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
![[Image: Fgve2XaXkAIb3IT?format=jpg&name=medium]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fgve2XaXkAIb3IT?format=jpg&name=medium)
![[Image: Fk_NVh_WIAE27RZ?format=jpg&name=medium]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fk_NVh_WIAE27RZ?format=jpg&name=medium)