YazataJan 25, 2022 04:52 AM (This post was last modified: Jan 26, 2022 04:27 AM by Yazata.)
Mauricio at RGV has some extraordinary photographs of the inside of the Orbital Launch Platform. This is from outside the OLP looking up between the legs. The movable arms with what look like anvils on top of them swing out and are what the booster sits on. The white things between the supports (there are 20 of them) are plastic bags over quick disconnects (QD's) that feed high pressure gasses to the 20 outer Raptors to spin up their turbopumps to start them. (Rocket engine starters.) The 13 inner engines have to relight in flight so they are spun up by high pressure gas stored in COPV's (carbon overwrapped pressure vessels), the big black tanks that can be seen clinging to the outside of the booster. The outer 20 engines are just for launch and don't restart in flight, so the rocket doesn't need to carry their starters which are part of the launch pad. (Every kilogram you save on stuff you don't need in flight is additional payload mass.) When the rocket engines are started, the QD's retract and armored covers (visible above them) descend to protect them from the violent rocket blast as the booster rises. (That rapid get-outta-dodge retraction is why they call them "quick disconnects".) There are many QD's. Most of the others (apart from these 20 engine startup ones) are collected into two panels, one for the Ship and one for the Booster. Those SQD and BQD (ship quick disconnect and booster quick disconnect) panels have the fuel, oxidizer and nitrogen fill and drain lines, pressurization lines, electrical power and data connections. When the rocket starts to launch the whole assembly has to quickly disconnect and get out of the rocket blast.
(QD's are nothing new or unique to Elon. All rockets have them. There are some very cool videos on nasaspaceflight.com of Space Shuttle QD's retracting in less than a second with armored doors dropping down and flames visible around the edges as the Shuttles ascend.)
Photos from twitter by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography. (If you are interested in Starbase, check out his youtube. He has lots of cool videos, not least his weekly reviews where people go over his photos and try to identify what everything is.)
YazataJan 27, 2022 11:06 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 27, 2022 11:17 PM by Yazata.)
Here's the Space Shuttle LOX QD disconnecting, retracting and hiding behind its steel door. Starship is going to have 20 of these on the launch pad plus two much larger ones up above, all of them retreating backwards as fast as they can and hiding behind armored doors from the fury of 33 Raptor engines.
Here's the inaugural issue of Starbase Explained by Zack Golden (better known as Goldenboy). Here he explains the connections between the Orbital Tank Farm and the Orbital Launch Pad, the Orbital Launch and Integration Tower as well as the test stands nearby. His discussion is illustrated by photographs from the LabPadre streams, by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography and by Starship Gazer. Hopefully these will come out regularly.
YazataJan 30, 2022 11:13 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 30, 2022 11:35 PM by Yazata.)
As we close in on the Falcon 9 launch and return to launch site landing, the crazy rocket catching arms are lifting the giant water bags as I write this, in another load test.
Elon's Starship presentation (first in more than two years, first was in September 2019, last year's was cancelled due to covid) is on tap for a week from today Thursday February 10. He says that it will feature a fully-stacked Starship (booster 4 and ship 20, presumably). So there's going to be some cool crazy Chopstick arm action over the next week between now and then, picking the ships up and stacking them on the OLP.
RGV's weekly Starbase Review going live at 12 noon CST / 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST
It's a bunch of geeks going over the week's photographs in minute detail. They trace where every pipe goes and where every cryptic metal fitting fits. Spaceship construction in incredible detail.
Photo by Elon, the man who has accepted the assignment of making Science Fiction real. (SpaceX drone watching on left)
The "little" rocket in the loving arms (the second stage) is 50 meters/164 feet tall! Fully stacked, it's the largest rocket in history. Everything is bigger in Texas!
Jan 25, 2022 04:52 AM
(This post was last modified: Jan 26, 2022 04:27 AM by Yazata.)
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