Starship Version 3 Is Finally About To Light Up! [22:48]

Transcript
I tell you it has been so interesting watching SpaceX's new testing process for the Version 3 Starship play out for the first time this week, and we look to have breaking news on the first Super Heavy static fire on pad 2 coming in a few days. With that, we also have a brand new information dump that expands on the Artemis plan hinted at in last week's infographic drop by NASA. Mix in a bunch more successes and an unfortunate failure, and we've got a lot to dive into.

Hey, hey! Marcus House with you here, and we are indeed counting down to the first Version 3 Starship flight 12 approaching fast. We left you last week with SpaceX having FINALLY rolled Ship 39 to Masseys for its preflight testing campaign! Shortly after arriving, they had it rapidly hooked up to all the testing hardware in the new gantry. Thanks to Big D Adventures taking Shaun for a ride on the river behind Masseys, we've got a load to show here.

We can see here both forward and aft flaps being rigged up. SpaceX also immediately got to work strapping the ship in between the squeeze hardware with the actuators here being connected. This all sits just above the forward dome on the unpressurized section that I talked about in the previous video, and we expected the ship to be going through squeeze testing similar to what they did with test tank 16 in 2024. Well, they jumped right into that testing campaign with the tank farm beginning to wake up just after our video was published last Saturday. Indeed, for the first time since Ship 36's explosive mishap, cryogenics were flowing towards the static fire trench once again!

Ship 39 seemed to be fully filled at this point, and all looked to have gone perfectly to plan for this test. Detanking was soon underway as we could see there from the frosty sides disappearing. They were back just two days later with an even more exciting run that introduced that new added testing hardware! Now, as you might have already noticed, we had flaps moving in this test. Even before the propellant was loaded, they seemed to be moving and possibly beginning to pull on the aft flaps here. That test was brief and quite subtle, but focus on the way the light gets reflected off of the flap. Once the ship was loaded, we got some more movements from the aft flaps, but they also opened and closed the forward flaps too!

From this distance, there was no way to really know if these were just flap actuation tests or if they were actually pulling at them with the attached straps. We do know that there were two sets of squeeze tests performed, though, with the actuators hanging, going into tension, and then releasing. Once both of the tanks were fully frosted over again, we saw some of the vents new to the Version 3 Starship design being used. This bigger one is the reaction control system right beneath the forward flaps here. That's pointed in two directions, both towards and away from the heat shield! As SpaceX finally gears up to having a ship with the capability to test out ship-to-ship docking maneuvers, they need to have all that precise control available. I think it is really exciting to finally see them including this reaction control system.

The next night, they were right back at it again for a third round! This time it seemed to be a regular cryogenic test, but as it was a little windier out there on Tuesday, we get to see that neat spectacle with the mist creating that effect. That always looks wild sped right up! Before we knew it, the ship was detanked again, wrapping up another test. Now, you may have noticed that there was something missing from the views that came with that third cryogenic test. Indeed, it seems that the S39.1 test article has finished its testing for now as it was moved away from the cryostation. For a while, it almost looked like they were going to lift it off the stand right there as the big crane picked up a suitable load spreader. SpaceX had instead rolled it out of the Massey's facility and just parked it on the Masseys Way access road towards Highway 4.

Surprisingly, back it went towards the Masseys site, was properly hooked up to the crane, but then two days later it was unhooked and moved away for another round of Ship 39 testing. This, by the way, seemed to be a more low-key test mainly with the flaps moving a few times. After that, though, just like a few days earlier, the test article made its way back to where it started. Interestingly, the super crusher where SpaceX was testing the previous booster aft test article is now being reconfigured, and quite substantially! The actuators at the bottom have been a big focus, and these are being recovered. They no longer needed here to generate that insane amount of simulated thrust force to certify the booster aft. Instead, it has had these small extensions added to the columns at the top.

Thanks to this recent flight by RGV Aerial Photography, we can see that they've got a lot more hardware staged close by. Most importantly is this set of three truss structures. One of them was already being installed, and before long, all three pieces were attached. We think that this could be related to testing the new Version 3 Super Heavy grid fins. Remember, the B18.3 test article, which we had assumed would be having this testing, had its unfortunate premature end, so it is nice to see that this testing still seems to be on the way. You may remember that the forward section of the failed test unit here was rolled back to the build site and has since been worked on quite extensively. This week, we saw a booster common dome section with the vents that would normally be for the depress and reaction control systems capped off. That, of course, suggests that it is not a flight article, so although speculative, this may instead be a replacement aft section to stack with that forward section.

Speaking of rollouts, though, Ship 40 has come together real quick. This is being prepared for flight 13, which should be the second Version 3 Starship flight. The last section needed was that final all-important aft, which made an appearance on Monday! This is certainly the most complex section, of course, being the business end of the Ship hosting six Raptor 3 engines. Now, this has some new intriguing pipes here snaking about behind the flap aerocover. These now look to be angled in multiple directions at the base of the vehicle. Comparing a view from Chameleoncircuit before and after, you can see this moves the pipes out of the way of the engine bay. They seem to replace the previous engine bleed pipes, but we haven't quite spotted where they've gone after that.

Now, along with that, with Ship 40, SpaceX has already staged additional hardware in the center stand. Both of the raceways were lifted into place, but then in a surprise move, they also moved both of the aft flaps here! At first, we thought that it was going to be installed instantly on the Ship less than 24 hours after the aft section had been moved in, but the crew instead set them upright in that middle workstation like the raceways. This is another process optimization as we see this production line evolve and become ever more efficient. It means that with the one lift of the ship to the center workstation, they can immediately install both aft flaps and the raceways in one smooth set of moves!

At the Sanchez area of the site, the second ship test stand is coming along nicely with three service structures now installed to more easily access the vacuum engine mounts once a ship is lifted on top. This testing is even more crucial now that the engine mounts are recessed quite a lot into the aft dome. This is because SpaceX has switched the aft dome to use the same design as the common and forward domes. This means that the engines attach at a slightly different height, but this design increases the tank propellant volume without needing to make the ship taller. As another benefit, the standardized domes mean SpaceX is simplifying their production lines.

Moving on down to the launch site, since last week they've made huge strides removing all the pieces of scaffolding from that center ring of the orbital launch mount, and wow does it look amazing now that it is all finished! You can see the two buckets and the ridge piece down in the trench where all 33 Raptor engines will soon ignite in a rage of fury! The only pieces left, actually, are those on the top deck here in this corner, which are only here to get to the center scaffolding, so that should shortly come off too! With all this action, we should be very close now to seeing Booster 19's static fire campaign! In fact, the breaking news from just the past day seems to indicate this will be static fired early this coming week. We can see the beach access will be closed between 8 AM and 8 PM on Monday, with backups on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is only one reason I can think of that they would be fully closing the beach like this. In fact, it specifically says they will also close part of Highway 4 and associated FAA hazard areas and zones during SpaceX spaceflight activities. Stay tuned, this is looking like a big week with a lot of firsts to observe.

In preparation for this, SpaceX has purged both liquid oxygen and liquid methane quick disconnects to just clear out any debris that may have ended up in there. We don't want any of that entering into a flight vehicle for obvious reasons. In fact, the last significant work for this pad right now is the roofing upgrades, which certainly shouldn't hold up any static fire action. The large section being built on the ground is having those top panels installed, and up at the top of the tower, they are still completing all that reinforcement work that we touched on last week. We've got very nice views of all this from the ground thanks to Shaun, and as always, thank you for being subscribed here; we get to be out there picking this up, so thank you![ad text redacted]

Ok, so along with Pad 2 work, there is plenty to watch with the other massive upgrades going on around it. I mentioned last week they had already started installing sheet piles for that first trench exit over here at Pad 1, but perspective was playing tricks from the ground! They were instead reaching the end of that tower side wall; however, they were clearly about to begin that exit here! The four new methane tanks within the tank farm are plumbed into their skids, although only with lines connected that are likely to just allow SpaceX to purge them at this time. Over the road at the new Air Separation Unit, most of the work is all around the more intricate systems that join all these larger prefab pieces together. This is all quite difficult to keep track of now, but it seems the most work right now is going on from the left wing. There's tons of conduit work going on, and I suspect there's going to be a lot of the power and control systems going in here shortly!

Jumping across the country to the Florida site, we had another two tower sections roll to Space Launch Complex 37. This was Module number 8 moving through on Monday night, which meant that they've now got the entire top half of this tower at the launch complex already, and then Module 1 rolling out on Thursday! This module, of course, will be the first to be stacked on the tower base once that is constructed. Now, the Artemis topics to explore currently are intriguing every week at this point. Let's start with the Artemis II mission, which has been pushed into April now.
Weekly Space Update
Last week, of course, we had watched the SLS return to the Vehicle Assembly Building to go through repair work for the helium issue on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. Well, great news on all that because the engineers found that a seal in the quick disconnect that supplies the helium was obstructing the flow due to it becoming dislodged. They removed the quick disconnect and reassembled the system. They also took the opportunity to refresh other systems, such as installing a new set of flight termination system batteries, and also batteries on the upper stage, core stage, solid rocket boosters, and Orion's launch abort system. They are also replacing a seal on the core stage's liquid oxygen line too. So, yea, it all seems to be going to plan. They are still working on it and seem confident that it will be rolling out for a wet dress rehearsal later this month before the hopeful launch in April.

Now, there is also more information dumped around the rapidly changing future of Artemis missions, as we just started touching on last week with this new infographic being posted. Now, this has been followed by this update on Tuesday this week as they lay out the new plan to land American astronauts on the Moon to maintain U.S. superiority in exploration and discovery. As we know, Jared announced that NASA would increase the number of missions and begin standardizing the Space Launch System configuration. Artemis III is this new demonstration mission that will test one or hopefully even both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. It is confirmed that this will also involve launching crew on Orion with SLS and will essentially do a test rendezvous and docking with the private commercial spacecraft that will be in play. I think it would be wild if they could do this exercise with both landers in the same mission, so I am really hoping that we get to see very solid progress with both SpaceX's HLS and the Blue Moon crewed lander so they can test out both of these.

Moving onto Artemis IV's first lunar landing in early 2028, this is still largely the same plan as it was when it was named Artemis III. After launch on SLS sending the crew out into an orbit around the Moon, they will transfer over to the commercial lunar lander. This will then transport them to the Moon's surface. Now, NASA says here that the "lander readiness will determine which provider will safely carry the crew to the surface and back to Orion in lunar orbit." Which lander do you think will be ready first? There is furious debate online about all this right now, so I'd love to know what you think.

Now, here I think is the interesting bit. The work going on right now to standardize the SLS will already be implemented for Artemis IV. NASA is indeed looking for alternate options for the second stage instead of the limited interim cryogenic propulsion stage, and I suspect that is exactly why we've seen hints of this Centaur stage on the infographic. This is a real shakeup, and stated here as well, NASA is no longer planning to use the Exploration Upper Stage or Mobile Launcher 2, as development of both has faced huge delays. Now, this is a big shock because, of course, significant work has already been done to develop the second mobile launcher. This would have supported the larger and more powerful Block 1B configuration of SLS, which has now, of course, been cancelled. I would have thought, though, that the new launch tower could have been updated to support the standard SLS configuration. I mean, as always, it would be useful to have a second if they are busy repairing damage on another. This, I think, is a pretty big issue that I personally see when trying to increase the launch frequency of SLS. It's not just more SLS rockets that need to be constructed, but also they need the ability to repair and turn around the launch tower work quick enough to match. Remember, there was big damage after Artemis 1 launch on the tower, and it took a lot of time and money to get this all fixed up.

In fact, my question to Jared here early in the week was whether the existing mobile launch tower has been upgraded to withstand the launch from Artemis 2 without needing a heap of repair work again. He replied right back acknowledging that there were a bunch of fixes applied after Artemis I, but also that "we will soon find out if Mobile Launcher 1 is more resilient after the Artemis II mission has launched." I think this is going to be a critical thing to look into because if the tower doesn't hold up to that force without substantial damage again, NASA is really going to need to throw some big resources into this problem. As Jared says here, "having the team and the resources to turn around the pad and meet the target launch cadence is a program necessity."

Now, moving on to the Artemis V mission, now using the standardized SLS, NASA wants this mission sending crew back to the lunar surface by late 2028, and this would then follow with future missions about once per year after that, gradually constructing a Moon base to call home more permanently. Now, like all of us, I'm sure, I would be thrilled to see all this happen exactly as planned here, but I do worry that the budgets that NASA currently has to play with are not really increasing enough to see this quickly become reality. I am wondering if perhaps a portion of the defense budget starts creeping into this plan because that is comparatively monstrous. After all, if the U.S. really wants that Golden Age of innovation and exploration, they need to move fast and also have the commercial partners move equally as quickly.

We've had another week of Falcon 9 action, of course. Starlink missions were already taking off on the first day of the month right after 2 a.m. on Sunday. This was Starlink Group 17-23 sending a batch of 25 into the group from Vandenberg Space Force Base. We had a neat update from Starlink here soon after this mission, actually, with a neat graphic comparing the difference between these satellites currently being launched and the new version 2's. This is to do with Starlink Mobile's next-generation functionality, which they claim is going to provide 5G speeds from space. That is just a little vague because the typical speeds you may get when using 5G can differ a great deal. It's also worth noting that the maximum capability of 5G is staggering. Like, 5G has the potential of 10 to 20 gigabits per second, but your typical speeds tend to sit around 100 to 200 megabits per second, so it really depends on what Starlink means by 5G speeds here. Regardless, though, we are talking about these speeds from space using a mobile phone, which is just crazy. They say here that version 2 will have 100 times the data density of the current V1 generation satellites and will seamlessly enable streaming, internet browsing, high-speed apps, and voice calls, just like being connected to a terrestrial network.

Back to the mission, though, there was a nice smooth landing on Of Course I Still Love You, and this was booster 1082's 20th landing. Group 10-41 was away only about 17 hours later that same evening from Space Launch Complex 40. 29 stacked within the fairings, and Just Read the Instructions was the landing platform for the 26th touchdown of booster 1078. It wasn't until Wednesday morning that the Group 10-40 mission was away from that same launch pad, and it was flight 25 for this booster number 1080. The second batch of 29 satellites for the week were stacked on board, and there is the landing on A Shortfall of Gravitas. Now, that almost felt like a quiet week for Falcon 9, and that feels like an odd thing to say. I mean, you could only say that three flights for the week for SpaceX was a slow week, right!? On Thursday, we had Space One attempting the third-ever launch of its Kairos rocket from Japan. It has launched both previous missions while facing serious problems in the flights. The first was in March of 2024, and it only ended up in the air for about five seconds or so before its flight termination system triggered due to lower thrust and speed than expected. This failure led to explosive fiery debris raining down all around the launch site. The second attempt in December that same year was much better, but was still cut short about three minutes into flight as it lost attitude control. The big question was, would the third time be the charm!? Well, unfortunately, this attempt also ended in vain. The rocket did lift off the pad successfully without any issues, but just a little over a minute into the flight, we saw what looked like an explosive event of some sort. Obviously not good. We could clearly make out parts of the rocket breaking away and ended in another rapid disassembly.

We also had a surprise Electron launch from Rocket Lab later in the week. This popped up quite suddenly, perhaps due to the confidential nature of the payload. This was the mission 'Insight At Speed Is A Friend Indeed' and it carried the single BlackSky Generation-3 satellite to low Earth orbit. Just shy of three minutes in, we had the staging as you would expect there with Electron's first stage drifting away, and we didn't see views of the fairing separation due to customer request. A little later, the stream just concluded with a successful kick stage separation. So, there is another week done and dusted by my friends! I hope you enjoyed this video! If you did, don't forget to hit subscribe so we can keep these awesome humans making content for humans. If you have just a little more time, consider checking out this video here next, and thanks for watching all this way through to the end. That helps more than I think most people realize. I'll catch you next weekend!

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