BFR Developments

[Yazata]

Yesterday somebody posted a distant photo of a hanger at McGregor with a Raptor visible on a flatbed outside and another raptor barely visible through the door.

A SpaceX employee who works at McGregor commented that there are lots of Raptors in there, and hoped that SpaceX would authorize release of a photo.

And today, Elon posted the photo below:

It appears that they are collecting engines for the first orbital attempt. The Superheavy for that flight will have 29 engines (20 fixed R-boost and 9 steerable R-center), while the second-stage Starship will have six (three steerable R-center and three R-vac vacuum Raptors designed for use in space).

Unclear if this photo was taken at McGregor or at Starbase. (Appears to have been taken in a tent structure and Elon's been spending much of his time in Starbase.) Multiple engines have been arriving at Starbase every day for some days now. There are increasing numbers of engines in Hawthorne where they are moving into mass production, in McGregor where each one is tested on the test stands, and at Starbase.

There's also word (verified by Elon) that they are building a new Raptor production line in McGregor so they will be manufacturing them there as well as in Hawthorne.

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And a mysterious big cylindrical thing wrapped in blue, atop an SPMT

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vy1OPxwCIKo

[Yazata]

Three engines have been installed beneath Booster 3, the Supperheavy booster currently on Pad A. It's believed that this booster will undergo a little three engine static fire as early as tomorrow or Thursday. B-3 is designated for ground testing but won't fly. The orbital flight booster will have 29 engines. Speculation is that part of the reason for a little 3 engine static fire might be to test out the autogenous pressurization scheme that proposes to use bleed gas from the engines to maintain ullage pressure in the tanks.

Work continues on Ship 20, the orbital Starship and Booster 4 the orbital booster. Work also continues on more tower segments and on all kinds of unidentified ground support equipment for the Launch area.

Meanwhile a photo taken today of Booster and Hoppy by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography

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[Yazata]

Todays news was that Mary received a warning notice early this morning, apparently for a static fire this afternoon. Then the day's road closures were suddenly canceled. There's still a closure on the books for tomorrow and it's unknown if they will static fire then.

Edit - Just minutes ago Mary received another warning notice for tomorrow, Thursday July 15.

Photo by Mary of her notice

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What did happen on Wednesday was more engine deliveries from McGregor and another crane rolled down to the launch area atop an SPMT. (They only have a hundred down there already... that's not enough cranes!) A cute little observatory dome appeared by Boca Chica village, like the ones used in larger amateur astronomy observatories. It's assumed that it's for a tracking camera.

And OLIT-8, the eighth (and last?) tower segment rolled to the launch area today on more SPMTs.

Photo by Mary of OLIT-8 arriving and pulling into the crazy never-ending construction zone.

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[Yazata]

OLIT-8, the eighth and presumably last tower segment was lifted Sunday morning. It's expected that some kind of crane will be installed on top. Haven't seen it yet.

Photo from nasaspaceflight.com which was streaming the lift

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[C C]

Hard to believe that freaking crane still had enough extension left to add that.

[Yazata]

Mary has received another 'overpressure' warning notice. They have a habit of issuing these then cancelling them, so no guarantee that a static fire will happen tomorrow.

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Hard to believe that freaking crane still had enough extension left to add that.

That's why Elon insisted on hiring one of the world's largest cranes.

[Yazata]

They just conducted the 3-engine static fire of the Booster. Elon says that all 3 engines ignited and ran for full test duration

Elon also says that depending on how quickly manufacturing the orbital Booster 4 comes along, they may consider trying a nine engine static fire in this test booster (Booster 3)

(SpaceX photo)

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[Yazata]

They seem to be experimenting with cargo bay doors on at least one of their 'pathfinder' nosecones. A really huge hatch for really large cargoes. It will be very interesting to see what kind of cover it gets.

From nasaspaceflight.com

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[Yazata]

Elon tweeting again

Construction starts soon on a much larger high bay just north of current high bay

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1419201466997293059

I was kind of expecting it. There's a big empty space next to the current High Bay that seemed to have been set aside for something to come. Despite its huge size, the current High Bay seems too small. Elon likes BIG so he's gonna go for an even Higher Bay. Besides, you can't have a never ending construction zone without never ending construction. And it will require more cranes !!

In other news, they seem to have broken ground on the new Raptor factory at McGregor. Large rectangular area with graders moving dirt around. It will be a huge building if it covers the whole area. I'm inclined to think that part of the footprint might become a parking lot. But even then, it will be a large factory building. Elon wants to mass-produce Raptor engines as if they were Teslas.

All three Raptors used in the static fire have been removed from Booster 3, put on the Raptor-Van and are apparently being returned to McGregor.

Talk inside SpaceX is that emphasis at Starbase is moving almost entirely to completing Booster 4 and Ship 20 prior to their stacking and orbital flight. But that's still months away, no firm or even approximate date yet.

[Yazata]

Here's a photo of the 100th Raptor built, photographed outside the SpaceX plant in Hawthorne (an LA suburb). The rocket behind it is the first Falcon 9 successfully recovered, now kind of monument outside the plant.

They will be manufacturing these engines in McGregor Texas too, where they are all test fired. The McGregor factory has just started construction with graders grading and dirt being moved around prior to foundations. Elon wants to crank Raptors out at a pace unprecedented for rocket engine manufacturing where each one has been kind of hand made.

SpaceX photo

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