Suborbital Pad B has seen its final static fire. Ship 30 is off the pad, and now the pad is being demolished. So all future static fires should be at the Massey site, using the fancy-shmancy flame trench. I believe Ship 26 is over there now as the initial test vehicle. Coverage of Massey's is kinda thin; it's not an easy site for the fans to watch.
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This SpaceX application for Starship ops at the Cape, shown in a Scientia Plus video, indicates that a future version of the booster will have 35 engines.
I was curious to see the rest of that document. Here's the link (it doesn't preview well in the forum as a document).
The expanded scope of operations that SpaceX is after will require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The expanded scope of operations that SpaceX is after will require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
Some good closeup shots of the new Massey’s test stand, and at the end of the video, B11 being lifted onto the OLM.
Ship 31 is at Massey's and was going through a cryo test when there was an electrical short of some sort. Lots of arcing and flashes from about halfway down the vehicle. The vehicle had a full load of LOX at the time. They did an immediate and lengthy depress. No explosion. No fire. Vehicle still intact.
It happened at 7:47:06 CDT in the live stream. It's a long shot, so don't expect much detail. I'm sure we'll see a dedicated video for the event.
I guess the next thing is to bring the ship back to the build site for repairs.
It happened at 7:47:06 CDT in the live stream. It's a long shot, so don't expect much detail. I'm sure we'll see a dedicated video for the event.
I guess the next thing is to bring the ship back to the build site for repairs.
I wonder if this is related to the loss of Ship 25 during IFT-2 when they had a fire and explosion during LOX venting. Perhaps Starship has a basic problem with shorting of electrical connections in the raceway, and when enough oxygen reaches the site of a short, you get this. Perhaps we didn't see an explosion this time because air is predominantly nitrogen.
If so, this test may be a real boon to development because now they have a vehicle that survived this event. Certainly there was no physical inspection of Ship 25 after its problem.
If so, this test may be a real boon to development because now they have a vehicle that survived this event. Certainly there was no physical inspection of Ship 25 after its problem.
"A shocking development that'll spark an investigation." - YT comment..
Punsters have no shame. YouTubers doubly so."A shocking development that'll spark an investigation." - YT comment..
Ben W
Chess Grandmaster (Supervised)
“This rocket sure has a short development arc.”
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