SpaceX Starship - IFT-3 - Starbase TX - Pre-Launch Preparations Thread

[ecarfan]

And right now there is one person on the ship QD doing something with cables. Over the past few months I would have thought SpaceX would have done everything to the QD necessary to have it ready for re-stacking. But now in daylight I see that there appears to be some scaffolding out on the end of the QD arm.

 

[scaesare]

And right now there is one person on the ship QD doing something with cables. Over the past few months I would have thought SpaceX would have done everything to the QD necessary to have it ready for re-stacking. But now in daylight I see that there appears to be some scaffolding out on the end of the QD arm.

View attachment 1017359

I think the continuous improvement method they follow, means that work on something may not always be correcting/repairing/"standard operations" and may often be tweaking/improving (well hopefully improving...)

 

[JB47394]

S28 was stacked last night. Given there is no launch license yet, so no great urgency, why does SpaceX chose to do this in the middle of the night?

I'd guess that everyone and everything was in place for the stack, so they just kept at it until it was completed. They may also have plans for the SPMTs today.

Over the past few months I would have thought SpaceX would have done everything to the QD necessary to have it ready for re-stacking. But now in daylight I see that there appears to be some scaffolding out on the end of the QD arm.

The first real test comes when they connect the thing to a Starship. If there are misalignment issues, adjustments and so forth, then they're going to have to fiddle with it. Hopefully, there won't be any further work needed when they start loading operations.

 

[ecarfan]

S28 has been destacked.

Perhaps it was stacked to test how the ship QD arm fit after work had been done on it, and now SpaceX is preparing for booster tanking tests leading up to a static fire?

 

[scaesare]

S28 has been destacked.

Perhaps it was stacked to test how the ship QD arm fit after work had been done on it, and now SpaceX is preparing for booster tanking tests leading up to a static fire?

Some thought it may be work on the clamps.... saw one comment that there was apparently "sawing" being performed on one of them...

(also learned a new word: fettling)

 

[Buckminster]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1757105067562258608

 

[ecarfan]

S28 has been restacked. Hopefully for the final time.

 

[JB47394]

Hopefully for the final time.

Well, at least one more for the flight termination system, but I suspect this is a very preliminary stack. We're apparently weeks away from launch.

 

[scaesare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1757105067562258608

Not until March.

Rats.

 

[JB47394]

Any thoughts on the purpose of these wires? It could be data, or power, or ground wires in case of lightning strike. They don't need arcing across that gap.

 

[mongo]

Any thoughts on the purpose of these wires? It could be data, or power, or ground wires in case of lightning strike. They don't need arcing across that gap.

View attachment 1017946

Guessing power or data, ship should be grounded via booster in general and via QD for fueling.

 

[ecarfan]

Guessing power or data, ship should be grounded via booster in general and via QD for fueling.

I have assumed that data transmission would be wireless. Of course I could be wrong.

 

[HVM]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1757495931803718128

 

[ecarfan]

In a few years that process will go almost that fast in real time.

 

[JB47394]

Starship QD is connected. Work platform is currently in place.

 

[JB47394]

NSF asserts that today is a wet dress rehearsal. Launch site is clear. Road is closed. No apparent activity from the tank farm so far.

 

[ecarfan]

Tank farm activity!

 

[ecarfan]

I don’t see any signs of prop loading yet.

 

[JB47394]

I don’t see any signs of prop loading yet.

They just barely started in on loading LOX on Starship, then stopped. They're detanking now. It looks like this test was about exercising the GSE from end to end, and not an attempt at a wet dress rehearsal.

 

[ecarfan]

NSF is saying that yesterday’s WDR was “aborted” and today’s road closure has been cancelled. Looks like there is an issue that needs to be sorted!