BFR Developments

[C C]

Around the time of Starship Flight 1 a group of environmental activists filed suit to shut down Starbase. Well, today a US District Court judge denied their motion and ruled in favor of the FAA and SpaceX.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G06iWmqWYAA2...name=large

Need to get everything accomplished over the next three years, as who knows what group will eventually subjugate the crippled and identity-crisis afflicted Democratic Party in the decade ahead. Even the very next POTUS could be a radical revenge enviro-cultist who wants to return us all to the stone-age.

[Yazata]

The Starbase spaceship factory is well ahead of the Cape Canaveral spaceship factory. So at first ships and boosters will have to be transported from Starbase where they are made to Cape Canaveral for Florida launch.

To that end, SpaceX is acquiring a sea-ship to transport space-ships from Texas to Florida. The ship's name will be 'You'll Thank Me Later'.

It's still unknown at this point whether they will be transported vertically or horizontally. Vertical is less unlikely than it seems since the ships and boosters are basically just huge empty cans with most of their mass concentrated in the engines at the bottom. SpaceX already transports landed Falcon9 boosters vertically at sea so they have experience doing it. Ships and boosters can be securely tied down in case of rough seas.

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Elon clarifies

"Watership to transport spaceship from Starbase to Cape Canaveral"

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1967939003455586771

In the graphic below, blue is transport by highway, green is transport by sea. Except that the Starship ships and boosters are so large and their SPMT transports are so slow that you could never have them on the interstate. And imagine trying to get them underneath overpasses.

Of course everyone wants to see them flown suborbitally to Florida, but that's unlikely to happen.

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[Yazata]

And the ever-vigilant space-nuts note that this huge barge was launched by LAD Services of Morgan City LA (a major supplier for the offshore oil industry) just before Elon made his cryptic post above. ('You'll Thank Me Later' is another spaceship name from an Ian Banks sci-fi novel.) This barge is 100' by 300', long enough to accomodate Superheavy boosters lying on their side. It was built for McDonough Marine, the same company that SpaceX contracts with to provide its other marine assets like the Falcon 9 landing barges.

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Artist's conception render by Mookafish

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[Yazata]

Both yesterday and today they attempted to Static Fire Ship 38, the Flight 11 ship. And both days unknown problems developed forcing them to abort the attempts. My impression is that yesterday's problem was a leak on the propellant feed umbilicals. (That's based on them working on it all last night. Photo below.)

(Photo by Starship Gazer)

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Today's problem might have been more of the same, it's hard to know.

Meanwhile they have repeatedly been testing the Pad 2 water deluge. This has a wild and crazy literally-rocket-powered system to generate tremendous pressure to force huge quantities of water out in seconds.

The first test was rather modest. Yesterday's second test was much more forceful. Today's third test was a sight to behold as they seemingly dialed it up to eleven. There's a pressure relief valve that sent a geyser of water up almost as high as the 500 foot tower! Video in the post below.

https://x.com/LabPadre/status/1969050797762605323

While all this was happening, work continues rebuilding Masseys bigger and more elaborate than it was before the Ship 36 explosion. While that construction happens, they have been using the super can-crusher to subject a liquid nitrogen filled version.3 booster test article to unrelenting torture using hydraulic cylinders to push and pull simulating various flight loads. (They do this at night when the construction crews aren't there.) After some ten days of those tests, they appear to have conducted a test-to-failure as the tank finally gave up and burst.

https://x.com/Blobifie/status/1968992119978107258

[Yazata]

Meanwhile, SpaceX is petitioning the FAA for additional Starship launch trajectories to launch various NASA and Space Force payloads, and are also petitioning for an orbital reentry trajectory leading to a Starship ship-catch at Starbase.

https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_en...LS_508.pdf

SpaceX is already approved to launch over the gap between Florida and Cuba. They want to launch south of Cuba as well, plus over the Gainesville area of Florida. (In this FAA graphic, AHA means aircraft hazard area.)

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And here's the proposed reentry trajectory

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[Yazata]

Ship 38's delayed static fire is now scheduled for Monday Sept 22.

And the reason for the abort on Friday was made clear in a photograph by Nasaspaceflight.com, showing clouds of vapor coming from the cryogenic propellant umbilical. This is the same problem that aborted the Thursday static fire attempt as well.

SpaceX's umbilicals generally work a lot better than this, but this one was hastily McGuyvered after the Ship 36 explosion wrecked the Masseys static fire test stand.

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[Yazata]

Ship 38 just completed its anticipated full six engine static fire.

(Remember that this isn't supposed to happen on the launch pad, but rather on the purpose-built test stand at the Massey's test site. Except that test stand and its surrounding infrastructure had an unfortunate accident a few months ago.)

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1970282201360277729

https://x.com/NASASpaceflight/status/197...4654983673

(SpaceX photos)

From the tower

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From a drone. Note the ice cascading off.

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[Yazata]

Nasaspaceflight.com's latest update video, hot off the presses after today's static fire. Hosted by the crazy Jack Beyer (who has more personality in his little finger than others have in their whole bodies):

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/iuIkJC1TNZQ

[Yazata]

Flight 11 might be coming soon.

The first Coast Guard Notice to Mariners is out, with a launch date of October 6 at 6:15 PM CDT

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and

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[Yazata]

Pad-2's launch mount is having its armor steel cladding installed around all the pipes, valves and electrical controls that make it work.

(Photo by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography)

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And the flame trench itself has had its concrete surface covered by protective steel cladding, making it look really good.

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