Yeah, they're talkers. Play it at 2x. There's still plenty of context at that speed to know when they get into something of interest. It's what I do with raw FSD test drives.
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New RGV flyover photos; I scanned through the almost 2 hour video to find the interesting bits to me. Tried to put some screen captures in this post but for some reason was not able to.
Work continues at Massey’s on the static fire test facility and flame trench. It appears that most of the flame trench parts are there waiting to be installed. It’s a massive transformation of the Massey’s site with a lot of work to build a water deluge system and improve the tank farm.
At the suborbital pad at the launch site progress is being made preparing the area for the next launch tower. It’s still not clear to me exactly where it will be located as I don’t see any excavation being done for the OLM foundation. And the entire tank farm will have be be rebuilt. It seems like a fully functional new tower and OLM and tank farm are years away.
The RGV flyover had a lot of nice clear long distance overview shots of all the sites including BC village. It’s incredible to see the extent of the changes over the years. SpaceX continues to build lots of new housing in the village.
Work continues at Massey’s on the static fire test facility and flame trench. It appears that most of the flame trench parts are there waiting to be installed. It’s a massive transformation of the Massey’s site with a lot of work to build a water deluge system and improve the tank farm.
At the suborbital pad at the launch site progress is being made preparing the area for the next launch tower. It’s still not clear to me exactly where it will be located as I don’t see any excavation being done for the OLM foundation. And the entire tank farm will have be be rebuilt. It seems like a fully functional new tower and OLM and tank farm are years away.
The RGV flyover had a lot of nice clear long distance overview shots of all the sites including BC village. It’s incredible to see the extent of the changes over the years. SpaceX continues to build lots of new housing in the village.
Attachments
I think TMC is having issues with image retrieval. Until they get that sorted, here are a couple links to the video. For those not familiar, these RGV videos work like Zoom meetings, not your typical YouTube presentation.
0:03:53 Flame trench consruction
0:12:18 Flame trench hardware
1:26:56 Area for new orbital launch mount
I think the current work is just to dry out the soil. The array of stuff in the ground is a bunch of wicks for drawing out moisture.
Has anyone said whether they'd create a second tank farm or just rely on the one they have? I thought it odd that they didn't put the new OLM near the first so they could leverage the existing farm. Perhaps they have learned so much about tank farms now that they'll create a better one for the second site.
I’ve seen no verified information about whether or not a second full tank farm will be built for the second tower. I’m only guessing that there will be a second tank farm based on how far away it appears the second tower will be built from the existing farm. My totally non-expert opinion is that a second full tank farm would be advantageous for more efficient prop loading since it would not be effected by whatever is happening at the first tower, and there seems to be space for it.
This is a shot of one of the new water-coold flame diverters being trucked in to the Massey site:
I have to say, the amount of extremely heavy-duty engineering and construction to support "rocket science" is pretty incredible. I always think if it as a largely brainiac endeavor to "do" rockets, but man there' boatload of steel fabrication, welding, concrete work, excavation, heavy machinery/cranes/trucking, etc... to support operations...
I have to say, the amount of extremely heavy-duty engineering and construction to support "rocket science" is pretty incredible. I always think if it as a largely brainiac endeavor to "do" rockets, but man there' boatload of steel fabrication, welding, concrete work, excavation, heavy machinery/cranes/trucking, etc... to support operations...
Here are the Massey’s site screen caps I was trying to post on Sunday.
This is of course a CGI (credit: Ryan Hansen) of what the flame trench may look like in cross section.
And here is a screen cap from the RGV flyover of the area in question.
This image if of an area near the OLM showing the new (LOX?) overflow pipes from the tank farm where they empty into the marsh. I think they explain what we could see during prop loading for IFT-3 where super cold air was flowing along the ground and then the light winds blew it through the OLM/tower area.
SpaceX now owns the circled area, so the launch area is contiguous with that and the little strip of asphalt-covered land next to it. They've torn out the concrete border and have been doing lots of earth moving in this area.
They're also scrapping another of the big vertical tanks. The odd cut is to get the right center of mass for the lift. The side with reinforcement is heavier than the side without.
The tank next to it looks like it's going to go as well because they've removed the lighting that was mounted to the side of it.
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And now they're finishing the process of chopping up the inner tank.
RGV Aerial Photography's latest update has lots of good information, including details on the progress of the Starship static fire flame trench. It's definitely coming into focus, but there's activity pretty much everywhere at Starbase.
From that video;
It’s incredible to see the change in Boca Chica Village from a few years ago to now.
This is a piece of property not owned by SpaceX. The video implies that it is the subject of a legal case and that SpaceX anticipates owning it soon?
It’s incredible to see the change in Boca Chica Village from a few years ago to now.
This is a piece of property not owned by SpaceX. The video implies that it is the subject of a legal case and that SpaceX anticipates owning it soon?
Here's the gist of the dispute from SpaceX's side. Obviously, Novus is asserting that they're full of crap.
You may be able to see all the legal filings at this site. Scroll down to the Case Documents area and click on a document. Then scroll down to the ASCII of the document. You may or may not be able to see the documents. For me, it sometimes complains about my not having a subscription and sometimes it shows the document.
Case 2021-DCL-03184 Space Exploration Technologies Corp Vs. Novus Prime Properties, Llc,Francisco Chavez - Trellis: Legal Intelligence + Judicial Analytics
Overview in the case of Space Exploration Technologies Corp Vs. Novus Prime Properties, Llc,Francisco Chavez number 2021-DCL-03184 in Cameron County, TX.
trellis.law
Thanks. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that Novus Prime Properties is just a land speculator. Which isn’t necessarily illegal. I suppose it comes down to the nature of the alleged agreement between Novus and SpaceX and if it was legally binding or not.
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