Wiki Super Heavy/Starship - General Development Discussion

[ecarfan]

South Texas is about to be impacted by Tropical Storm Harold and will make landfall near Port Mansfield, just 40 miles north of Boca Chica. I hope SpaceX is making everything secure.. The wide open high bays do not have doors, as far as I know.

Graphic credit Wunderground.com

 

[ecarfan]

B9 has been rolled back out to the launch area!

NSF video of rollout

 

[ecarfan]

NSF live-streamed B9 being lifted back onto the OLM. The lift started at 4:54PM and ended at about 5:40, 46 minutes, which is quite a bit faster than SpaceX has done it in the past.

Next step; another static fire?

 

[JB47394]

NSF live-streamed B9 being lifted back onto the OLM. The lift started at 4:54PM and ended at about 5:40, 46 minutes, which is quite a bit faster than SpaceX has done it in the past.

That showed a lot of confidence/competence on their part. The pauses between phases were very short.

Next step; another static fire?

I'd say yes, but I also said they'd take engine testing in increments so they'd see how the engines interacted with the water deluge system. Instead, it was "Hold my beer" and off they went.

 

[Buckminster]

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1694243034823573943?s=46

 

[ecarfan]

Beautiful photos. Elon says IFT-2 is “soon” but the Aug 31st target date seems very unlikely.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1694146497376555022

 

[ecarfan]

NSF is showing “potential testing today”, whatever that means. Could be a spin prime?

 

[JB47394]

Could be a spin prime?

It must be. No overpressure notice has been sent, and there's a cherry picker parked right by the launch mount. So no water deluge and no static fire. The tank farm is just now showing its first signs of life.

My speculation here is that they've decided that their problem with engine-outs at launch is that there was something wrong with propellant delivery through the launch mount. So they made some changes, and may have added some instrumentation. Then they started testing. First was the rather extensive whirlpool testing with high pressure gas. Now they'll try for a spin prime test to see if their thinking holds and their changes work. If the spin prime works as they expect, then they can schedule a static fire.

NASASpaceFlight says that there's a new Local Notice to Mariners for September 8. I checked the website and couldn't find it, but I trust NSF that it's there somewhere.

 

[mongo]

It must be. No overpressure notice has been sent, and there's a cherry picker parked right by the launch mount. So no water deluge and no static fire. The tank farm is just now showing its first signs of life.

My speculation here is that they've decided that their problem with engine-outs at launch is that there was something wrong with propellant delivery through the launch mount. So they made some changes, and may have added some instrumentation. Then they started testing. First was the rather extensive whirlpool testing with high pressure gas. Now they'll try for a spin prime test to see if their thinking holds and their changes work. If the spin prime works as they expect, then they can schedule a static fire.

NASASpaceFlight says that there's a new Local Notice to Mariners for September 8. I checked the website and couldn't find it, but I trust NSF that it's there somewhere.

My understanding is that the outside engines (and maybe the next ring of 10 in the future) get spin up gas from their individual QDs, not propellant.

 

[ecarfan]

At 2:22:30 in this NSF video there is a spin prime test of B9. No way to tell if it was just the outer ring or more engines than that.

 

[JB47394]

At 2:22:30 in this NSF video there is a spin prime test of B9. No way to tell if it was just the outer ring or more engines than that.

Here's hoping that they liked what they saw. It would be nice to be able to assume that all engines will light from now on.

 

[mongo]

May have a static fire test Friday

https://twitter.com/x/status/1694869652571087126

 

[Buckminster]

So what is the plan for landings?
Flight 2 - land on water
Flight 3 - land on grass trying to simulate chopsticks somehow with cranes etc???
Flight 4 - chopsticks? - significant risk of major damage

 

[mongo]

Static fire full duration.
So much steam.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1695129207381045692

 

[JB47394]

Static fire full duration.
So much steam.

Powerful run, but I'm seeing plenty of small debris in the closeups from NSF. Maybe Fondag being stripped, or insulation/paint from the launch mount, or general debris left on the ground.

 

[scaesare]

What's left is gonna be SPOTLESS after that steam-cleaning...

 

[mongo]

Powerful run, but I'm seeing plenty of small debris in the closeups from NSF. Maybe Fondag being stripped, or insulation/paint from the launch mount, or general debris left on the ground.

From the color vs time of the cloud seemed like it was just more dirt from beyond the concrete zone.
Fence lost again.

 

[Grendal]

 

[scaesare]

"Full Duration"

That's what I like to hear...

On edit: Man, that thing moves a whole bunch of water...

 

[JB47394]

From the color vs time of the cloud seemed like it was just more dirt from beyond the concrete zone.
Fence lost again.

Here's a link to the NSF video that shows a closeup of the debris cloud. It's definitely throwing up stuff, but it may just be garbage left on the concrete surface. Loose gravel, dirt clods, welding spatter, bits of plastic sheeting. I guess we'll get a better look at the ground around the launch mount in the next RGV Aerial video.

Separately, people have been commenting that the low wall they put up on the "soil" side of the launch area seems too low to do anything useful (e.g. contain the deluge outflow). In watching the test video, I wonder if it exists to reduce erosion. A low wall would suffice to ruin the flow of exhaust low to the ground, ensuring that it doesn't get a chance to go straight into the surrounding soil.