Building the Full Metal Starship testbed: Starhopper

[ecarfan]

I think that those are the quick release valves and supports for LOX and methane lines (Umbilicals). And there are only two of them, in non- symmetrically positioned. I don't think them can be used for hold down.

Good point. Maybe the Starhopper has no need for hold down clamps due to the nature of the testing it will do.

I don’t see any cold gas thrusters on the Starhopper.

 

[HVM]

bocachicagal: "Thruster pods have been numbered..."

 

[mongo]

I'm assuming that the things that look like conduit held on by unistrut are the cold gas thuster feed lines. That's cool and sort of funny looking on a rocket.

 

[ecarfan]

Thanks, got it. Love the steampunk look of the Starhopper! No need to make it pretty.

bocachicagal: "Thruster pods have been numbered..."
View attachment 415701

 

[bxr140]

I'm assuming that the things that look like conduit held on by unistrut are the cold gas thuster feed lines. That's cool and sort of funny looking on a rocket.

The larger pipes with the 90deg bends (like you see in pipelines and steam ducts) are gas. The smaller ones (in general) are cable harnessing.

 

[ecarfan]

Just checked the Starship cam and got “live stream not available”. Waiting for Starhopper to lift off...

 

[HVM]

Daddy DotCom on Twitter
@elonmusk Replying to @flcnhvy @bluestonenew and

"Might get pushed to next month. Starhopper flight first. Waiting on engine repair."

 

[HVM]

"Any update on the Starship presentation we’re all super excited for, I assume it won’t happen on June 20?"
"[presentation] Might get pushed to next month. Starhopper flight first. Waiting on engine repair."
-clarification. Picture unrelated.

 

[ecarfan]

I realize there has not been much SpaceX news lately...did you post that image because that vehicle has a vague resemblance to Starhopper?

 

[HVM]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight
"SN6 Raptor is being installed on to Starhopper at Boca Chica."
Chris B - NSF on Twitter

Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk
"Raptor engine mounted on Starhopper. Aiming for hover test Tues.
~20m up & sideways for first flight. Mk1 Starship hopefully 20km up in a few months."
Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[Nikxice]

~20m up & sideways for first flight.

That should be fun to watch. A thought on Starhopper's untethered hover test on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. Fifty years after celebrating the high point of legacy rocket builders, the time spent stuck flying "sideways" in LEO is almost over.

 

[HVM]

Raptor Serial number 6 TVC test:

 

[ecarfan]

You really have to a be a serious SpaceX geek to be willing to watch that video.

 

[SMAlset]

Caught the last 10-15 minutes when we got back from dinner of today’s Starhopper Static Test on this live feed on YouTube. Scrub near the end for the firing.

Think I saw Everyday Astronaut was something like 1.5 miles away from the Boca Chica test site. He said he was going to upload a 4K version to YT afterwards.

 

[HVM]

"She'll be fine, she's built like a tank.

" - QuantumG

 

[ecarfan]

Thanks for posting. Don’t find that video on YouTube yet. The static firing is at the 47:50 point. It only lasted a second or two.

There was a marked amount of “residual flame” at the engine after it stopped firing. And it looked liked on other parts of the Starhopper exterior as well.

Not sure that static fire test was “nominal”. At 51:20 it looked like there was a brief burst of flame and then shortly after that there appeared to be water being sprayed at the base of the rocket for awhile. Another brief burst of flame at 54:40. But the Starhopper is “still there” according to Scott.

 

[Grendal]

Something went wrong but the Starhopper is still there. The comments on SpaceX FB think that methane was spilled and that caused the secondary flare up. Also, SpaceX has removed the requests for closure in the area which says there will be no hop this week. So SpaceX is working on what went wrong and hopefully nothing is truly damaged to cause a big delay.

Article all about it:
Starhopper fires up for an eventful Static Fire test – NASASpaceFlight.com

 

[ecarfan]

Yes, I don’t expect to see any “hopping” this week by the Starhopper.

Elon takes a lot of criticism for “overpromising” and setting unrealistic goals and timelines. I view that as simply a case of a highly optimistic person trying to achieve almost impossible goals. If he wasn’t so optimistic he would not have been able to accomplish the amazing things he has so far with SpaceX and Tesla.

 

[e-FTW]

Toasty Hopper!

 

[HVM]

Warhly‏
"Starhopper is OK?"

Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmuskhttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1151950403874914304
"Yeah, big advantage of being made of high strength stainless steel: not bothered by a little heat!"
"Aiming for hover test next week"

Warhly on Twitter