BFR Developments

[Yazata]

NASA's Airborne Science calendar for March 2023 has a "placeholder" labeled "SpaceX Starship Launch" on Saturday March 18.

While this isn't definitive word that the Orbital Launch Attempt will be on that date, I assume that NASA would only do this with input from SpaceX. So I'm guessing that SX told them they are aiming for that date.

https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/aircraf...tid=Zxz2cZ

[Yazata]

While we are waiting for the first orbital attempt by Booster 7 and Ship 24, Ship 25 (Ship 24's understudy and follow-on) is at the test stands preparing for its own static fires. And just in the last couple of days, Ship 26 has rolled out for cryo pressure testing.

26 is a strange one, constructed without fins and lacking heat shield tiles. Clearly it isn't intended to reenter the Earth's atmosphere or land.

Some think it's just a test article to test structural changes, but others (including me) think that it's the first of a new expendible variant designed to carry heavy (potentially up to 250 tons) payloads to low earth orbit. (My reason is that it seems to have complete raceways (the pipes and cables up the side) and a flight termination system visible.)

Its appearance is distinctive and I call it "The Silver Bullet" for obvious reasons.

(Photo by Carlos Nunez, @cnunezimages aka 'Starbase Surfer'. Give him a follow, he posts great images on Twitter every day. This is one of today's.)

Note the men on the lifts working on the QD unbilicals for scale, and this is just the second stage! (The rings are about 6 feet wide as well, so each ring is about as wide as a person is tall. The black hatch about 2/3'd the way up is where the top dome is and everything above that is payload bay (the hatch gives access to that space).

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[Yazata]

From the Daily Hopper

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[Yazata]

Just seen over the RGV area (including Starbase) - a bright fireball streaking in the sky leaving a contrail, followed by a loud boom that shook houses all over the area.

It wasn't a Starship reentering the atmosphere. (Or a Chinese balloon!) The FAA informed one of the local sheriffs that it appears to have been a meteor.

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Multiple federal agencies report that it was a small meteorite that hit the ground somewhere west of McAllen.

https://twitter.com/MayraFlores2022/stat...5334654976

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https://twitter.com/NWSBrownsville/statu...1286569984

https://twitter.com/NWSBrownsville/statu...8844040192

[Yazata]

NASA confirms the meteor that struck the ground west of McAllen. They say it was about two feet in diameter and weighed about 1000 pounds. There are no reports of injuries or damage on the ground.

https://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson/status/...4301592576

https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-fall...3-2322-utc

[Yazata]

Kevin Randolph photographed these at Starbase. They are maritime buoys and are believed to be private aids to navigation to be operated by SpaceX in the Gulf of Mexico in conjunction with the Coast Guard to mark off a safety perimeter for landing of the Superheavy booster during the first Orbital Flight Test. (OFT-1)

Their appearance suggests that OFT-1 is indeed getting closer.

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[Yazata]

Late last night, Ship 25 was moved from the build site about 4.5 miles west to Massey's. It was transported by SPMT in the dead of night, with its driver walking the whole way. What's more, the road between Massey's and the build site is pretty bad. But Ship 25 survived the journey.

The move caught me entirely by surprise. I expected something to move to Massey's, but expected it to be a test nose-cone. An entire spaceship was unexpected.

The plan seems to be to do cryotesting at Massey's, without having to close the road and evacuate workers from the entire launch site in case the test-ship pops. If they plan to launch next month (I increasingly doubt it) there is lots of work to complete at the launch site. (Shielding on the OLM, water deluge system etc.) So they can't afford to lose work days.

(Photos are screenshots by Vicki Cocks from LabPadre's livestreams)

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Meanwhile back at the launch site, work continues installing steel armor on the Orbital Launch Mount. This shielding is the real deal, armor steel at least an inch thick. Obviously intended to withstand super-intense rocket blast and protect all the relatively fragile pipes, valves and electrical inside the OLM.

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[Yazata]

They are drilling piles for the foundation of something big at the Build Site, where the scrap yard currently is. Speculation is that they might be planning to build another huge vertical assembly bay there.

(Screenshot from LabPadre's Rover 1 camera by Zack Golden)

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(Photo by Mauricio of RGV Aerial Photography with possible new bay location outlined by Zack)

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[Yazata]

Elon seems to have given up on the launch-in-March idea. He says that they still have some stuff to complete, which will take a "few weeks", then they need the FAA launch license which he expects around "the third week of April". (It's starting to sound like the FAA has told SpaceX they are prepared to issue the license when SpaceX has checked off all the outstanding checklist items.)

So in true Elonian style, Elon seems to be aiming for a launch date on 4/20!

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/stat...0533720064

[Yazata]

Here's Zack Golden's latest Starship engineering video, with ample help from the Ringwatchers.

It helps put what can seem like an endless succession of cryptic tests and ship prototypes into perspective. Zack and Jax explain what the test objectives were in many tests, and lots of small (and not so small) design changes made in subsequent Starships as a result of the data obtained.

Very enlightening and well worth the time (about 1 hour). It's entertaining and not too technical (no math)

We learn why the earlier Starships might have failed structurally and exploded from 'max-q' launch stresses and about all the problems SpaceX is having designing payload bay doors on the side of the ship and why Starships may not launch payloads (initially the big new version-2 Starlinks) until 2024.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/G0lPF-O7B7U