Wiki Super Heavy/Starship - General Development Discussion

[ecarfan]

Scaffolding has been set up all around the base of S24 and a section of tiles removed. Apparently there is a concern about the TPMS in that area and new tiles will be installed. It is unclear to me why there is scaffolding in place on the non-tiled side of the vehicle.

 

[ecarfan]

This caption raised a question; with the booster out in the rain and nothing on top of it, how does the water drain out from the exposed upper tank dome? There must be many small drain holes a few meters below the top edge but I’ve never noticed them in close up photos of the booster. Maybe they have covers over them that are open at the bottom.

 

[scaesare]

. Apparently there is a concern about the TPMS in that area ....

Wait, the booster has a Tire Pressure Monitoring System??

 

[ecarfan]

“Thermal Protection”, wise guy…

 

[ecarfan]

 

[Cosmacelf]

The tiles did always seem to be a weak point. SpaceX might not have gotten around to fixing it before the orbital test, but things have gotten delayed enough that now they have time to address it before the launch…

 

[mongo]

The tiles did always seem to be a weak point. SpaceX might not have gotten around to fixing it before the orbital test, but things have gotten delayed enough that now they have time to address it before the launch…

I think the tiles were removed to access the structure, not due to a fault with them.

 

[Electroman]

How much weight all these additional reinforcements is going to add, and how will that play into useful cargo weight?

 

[mongo]

How much weight all these additional reinforcements is going to add, and how will that play into useful cargo weight?

Each additional pound of final stage is one less pound of cargo capacity.
That said, S24 isn't optimal and won't be hauling any cargo.

 

[scaesare]

I think the tiles were removed to access the structure, not due to a fault with them.

Welding doubler plates over the connection between booster ring segments would seem that way...

 

[ecarfan]

New photos from Starshipgazer.com show an interesting pattern of removed tiles above the lower band of tiles removed to weld in the doubler plates.

 

[ecarfan]

Yesterday Boca Chica residents received an overpressure event notice for today, Monday. This morning there was a test of the OLM fire and detonation suppression system. NSF reports road is closed. Looks like there could be another B7 static fire today!

 

[ecarfan]

No static fire today.

 

[mongo]

Warning siren in Boca.

 

[mongo]

Static fire complete and everything still looks good (from external observers) .

Moderator add-on. Static Fire happens at 4 hours 35 minutes into the video:

 

[Electroman]

How many engines ?

 

[Cosmacelf]

How many engines ?

11

 

[mongo]

11

Indeed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1597703469502066690

 

[Electroman]

Static fire lasted 14 seconds

 

[ecarfan]

For this static fire the lower tank (is that the LOX?) appeared to be filled, it was frosty all the way to the top but the upper tank was barely filled. In wonder why such different tank fill levels?

Edit: it is the LOX tank and Elon explained the fill level in a tweet: