YazataAug 5, 2021 07:45 PM (This post was last modified: Aug 5, 2021 07:52 PM by Yazata.)
Today still-unfinished Sn20 rolled out to the launch area for fit-checks/stacking atop B4.
That will be a sight to see!!!
Based on SpaceX inside-sources, the plan going forward seems to be:
1. Stack Ship 20 on Booster 4 for fit checks This might happen today!!! It will be the first time that anyone will have seen the full Starship/Superheavy stack!
2. Destack the vehicles
3. Remove the Raptors
4. Finish thermal tile installation on 20
5, Proof test both vehicles with cryogenic pressure testing
6. Start reinstalling Raptors, perhaps not all at once
Sn 20 rolling on an SPMT for its meeting with B4. It will eventually have one side (its belly) completely covered with black thermal tiles. There are spots and gaps now where tiles are still missing. (A weld seam on the nosecone, a patch on the methane tank, and the fin-roots most obviously.)
YazataAug 6, 2021 02:37 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 6, 2021 04:16 AM by Yazata.)
Stacking the full stack today didn't happen. Elon says it was too windy. But winds in Boca Chica are quiet in the morning so they expect to stack it Friday AM.
Elon also commented on why the thermal tile installation is incomplete. They ran out of tiles! But more are inbound from the SpaceX tile factory in Cape Canaveral where they come from.
The location in Cocoa FL that was once being used to build the Mk.2 prototype Starship that was abandoned partway through when efforts shifted to Texas is still in SpaceX hands. (It's where they introduced nasa's old 1960's method of constructing spaceships out of rings rather than plates.) Cocoa's where they construct the Octragrabber robots and it's where they do preliminary silica processing as well. Then the silica slurry is transported to a larger heat shield tile manufacturing facility nearby that was once part of the Space Shuttle project as I understand it. From what I hear SpaceX has collected a lot of the old Shuttle thermal tile people. Lots of tile expertise there.
Meanwhile, after the excitement of 20's rollout this morning, there was some interest at the GSE this afternoon where David and Bucky place a Cryoshell over one of the silver GSE tanks. The tanks are basically repurposed spaceship fuel tanks (made out of the same rings) intended to hold LOX and LCH4. These are cryofluids and it's inefficient to store them in steel tanks, so the cryoshells slip over them to provide insulation.
YazataAug 10, 2021 06:57 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 10, 2021 06:59 AM by Yazata.)
Here's part II of Tim Dodd's Starbase Build Site tour, with Elon as tour guide. Lots and lots of golden information nuggets. This one takes you inside the Giant Tents.
Part III, the Elon-guided Launch Site tour, will be out in a few days
Part III of Tim's Elon-guided tour. This one at the Launch Site crazy construction zone. Mostly site supervisors reporting to Elon on status of various things.
YazataAug 15, 2021 03:18 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 15, 2021 03:20 AM by Yazata.)
Today's news from the Spaceport that Doesn't Exist
Test Booster 3 which has been sitting forlornely at the launch area, almost forgotten since its successful static fire while attention shifted entirely to Orbital Booster 4 and its spectacular stacking fit-check with Ship 20, was cut up for scrap today. Sad... for those of us who anthropomorphize them.
I do agree with Bezos that in an ideal world it would nice for NASA to have a parallel moon lander project, but they don't have the money. It would also be nice if NASA had BO as a latecomer 3rd-party in its commercial crew program, too. But again, no money to squander.
Plus, BO's version of that only produces a purely symbolic return to the Moon for the US after all these decades. They instead need a heavy edge over China for transporting materials to Luna for a base. That's HLS all the way.
Of course, Bezos is actually just trying to stir public attention in a way that might garner BO some other big project from the global space industry. Ironically based on mimicking a stunt or stunts that Elon supposedly pulled off successfully in the past. I mean, BO would definitely have some screws loose if it literally expected the infographic campaign to work a reversal or a dual mission approach.
YazataAug 18, 2021 01:25 AM (This post was last modified: Aug 18, 2021 01:36 AM by Yazata.)
Today at The Spaceport that Doesn't Exist...
Ship 20 has moved (by SPMT) to Suborbital Pad B where Bucky the giant yellow crane lifted it and placed it gently on the pad for cryo pressure testing starting tomorrow. (Pad B seems to have become the designated cryogenic testing pad.) There's lots of interest in how well the thermal tiling holds up to the cold cryo temperatures which will contract 20's skin, then to the internal pressure expanding that skin. Will the tiles crack or fall off?? (There's still lots of missing tiles on the methane tank, visible beneath the horizontal white line. The wing roots need tiles too -- they are awaiting arrival of specially shaped tiles from the tile factory in Florida.)
The stovepipe to 20's right is the remaining half of Booster 3 atop Suborbital Pad A. (Which may have become the static fire pad.) B3 is slowly being cut to pieces. Since attention has shifted to the new tower and orbital launch mount, the area around the suborbital pads has been serving as employee parking. That won't be the case tomorrow as they move into cryo testing.
Screenshot from the nasaspaceflight.com stream (All artfully done CGI since there's really nothing there, ask Jeff)
In today's news from The Spaceport That Doesn't Exist...
It appears that cryo testing of Ship 20 has been pushed back to Tuesday August 24. Backup road closures have been announced for the rest of the week in case Tuesday slips.
The big news today was ground breaking for the new Wide Bay next to the existing High Bay, said by Elon to be a little higher but much wider.
The problem seems to be that they can only comfortably work on one ship at a time in the existing High Bay, which isn't satisfactory if they plan to mass produce spaceships like Teslas. So they need a Bigger Bay. (Elon won't say if there will be a bar atop it.)
Work continues on the new orbital tank farm and on the arms that will reach between the Tower and the fully stacked rocket on the Orbital Launch Mount. It isn't clear what they will look like and everyone is curious to see.
Aug 5, 2021 07:45 PM
(This post was last modified: Aug 5, 2021 07:52 PM by Yazata.)
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