SpaceX is Gearing up To Catch Starship [11:13]

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Transcript

Chapter 1: Starship Program Overview

In this week’s Avid Space Starship update, Starship 40 arrived at the build site for its first major post-flight inspection. Booster 23 goes through testing while construction continues on booster 24 and ship 44. And SpaceX has filed to launch almost 20 times as many Starships each year from Starbase. So, let’s dig in and take a closer look at what’s happened this week. Moving full steam ahead, SpaceX continues to impress with their ability to multitask various phases of vehicle fabrication and testing. And this week, we have updates on ship 40, 42, and 44, as well as boosters 23 and 24. Starting off with the latest progress on Starship.

Chapter 2: Ship Fabrication Updates

42. It finished its latest stay at the Massie outpost, having performed additional proof testing after the ship was potentially modified with design changes or fixes from information gleaned from the recent flight data. The ship was rolled away from the static fire stand and departed Massies for the build site, rolling up Highway 4 and eventually being brought around to Mega Bay 2. After bringing the ship back, workers began bringing in Raptor engines ahead of static fire testing. Two Arvacs were spotted being taken into Mega Bay 2 for installation. Progress was also made on Starship 44 this week as the ship’s propellant transfer tubes, including the primary fuel lines for the ship’s Raptor engines, were brought into Mega Bay 2 for installation. Now, shifting backwards a bit in the production timeline. After arriving at the Port of Brownsville last week, Starship 40 was.

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Chapter 3: Starship 40 Return

taken off the semi-submersible ship Forte and rolled back to Starbase. Making the journey under escort, the ship headed down Highway 4 and was brought into the Sanchez site. Once it reached the site, crews began mating ship 40 to a breakover rig. The rig is designed to help carry the weight of the ship while it’s reoriented from horizontal to vertical or vice versa for transport to and from Star Base. Starship 40 and the breakover fixture were brought over to Mega Bay 2 and staged in front of the door. From there, workers attached straps to the lifting hard points on the side of the ship so it could be lifted. The V-shaped frame, the piece being repositioned on the left side of the screen, is the piece that the aft end of the ship or booster is meant to lock into when it’s set vertical on the transport stand. About an hour later, the ship 40 was lifted up a bit, making room for the breakover fixture.’

‘The V-shaped breakover truss was moved into place and secured to the ship. Once the breakover frame was bearing the weight of the aft end of the ship, the ringard crawler crane was detached and crews began to slowly raise the ship vertical. Over the next couple of hours, Starship 40 was gradually pulled upright from the lifting hard points. The breakover fixture attached to the aft end of the ship slowly rolled the rocket forward as it was raised, keeping it intact with the ground and controlling its motion. Eventually, for the first time since splashdown, the ship was once again fully vertical. The ship was soon lifted off the breakover fixture and the pivot and V-frame were moved out of the way. A ship transport stand was then brought into the ringard and taken over to Mega Bay 2. After removing the remaining parts of the breakover assembly, the ship was lifted into the air and prepared to be set down on the transport stand.’

‘The breakover hardware was sent back to Sanchez for storage until it’s needed again for laying ships and boosters down for transport to Florida. While the equipment was being moved out, ship 40 was lowered onto the stand. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, ship 40 was moved over to one of the Mega Bay 2 workstations where the ship will be put through a post-flight analysis and teardown. SpaceX also released some new images and videos of ship 40’s return to Starbase, showing a shipboard view of the ride from the Port of Brownsville to the build site, along with several excellent photos of the ship decked out in the stars and stripes. Moving on now to take a look at progress with Superheavy boosters while ship 42 was returning from the Massie outpost to the build site.

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Chapter 4: Booster Testing and Assembly

The booster transport and cryo test stand was positioned outside of Mega Bay 1. The tight confines at Starbase saw the stand moved in and out of the bay a couple of times before booster 23 was cleared to go. The booster then rolled out on Monday evening and began making its way toward Highway 4 ahead of its journey to the Massie outpost. The booster began its rollout shortly before midnight, completed the 3 and 1 half hour journey to the Massie Outpost, and was rolled into the cryo station where it was soon set up for the first round of structural proof testing. The booster performed its initial ambient pressure test run in the afternoon with minimal venting, and 2 days later, a full cryo test of the booster took place. Both propellant tanks were filled to the brim with liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen, holding at pressure for its test series before depressurizing. 2 hours later, the crow station reset for a second round of testing a few minutes later, and the booster began venting heavily before being reloaded with another partial fill of cryogenics.

Following this partial test, the booster was fully detanked. Shifting focus over to booster 24. Now, assembly work on the liquid oxygen tank section was mostly completed this week. The large liquid oxygen landing tank assembly was brought around the ring yard in front of Gigab Bay before being brought into Mega Bay 1 for integration and assembly. The final aft segment containing the propellant distribution manifolds and engine mounts followed suit, entering the ringard from Star Factory and moving into Mega Bay 1, where it was lifted onto the welding turntable. Shifting back over to the Massie Outpost and the extensively tested S43.1 test article. While booster 23 was in testing, it was also being put through a pair of tests. Following the eighth test, the ninth resulted in some damage on the nose, which seemed to have buckled at some point during the tests.

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Chapter 5: Construction Milestones

Moving on to our construction updates, Gigabay’s bridge crane trolley moved for the first time as workers made their final checks on the crane systems. With everything checked, crews attached a sign bearing the crane’s rated load capacity in classic Elon style 420 tons. The stands that the bridge crane hook had been resting on were taken away. And the next morning, the strand jacks began the slow process of lifting the bridge crane into the air before stopping a short distance up. While the crane sat suspended, workers hung an American flag next to the weight capacity plaque. While work continued on the bridge crane, the temporary internal bracing continued to come down from the upper levels. In another construction milestone, disassembly work on the first tower crane was completed this week. The crane segments were removed in sections in lengths of up to three segments at a time. Each segment was lifted up through the hole in the roof before being swung over and lowered down the side of the building. After 3 days of lifts, the last of the crane segment was finally removed. One down and three to go.

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Chapter 6: Pad and Infrastructure Work

Over at the launch complex, the larger buckler crane was used to lift a preassembled section of the steel trench wall into place at pad one. A pair of concrete pump trucks arrived the next day, but not for the trench wall section. Instead, the concrete pumpers were used to pour the flame trench ramp, which deflects Super Heavy’s exhaust, up into the air and away from the pad complex. Concrete trucks arrived shortly after they finished setting up, and the trucks kept coming with the pour going on through the night and wrapping up early the next day. Over at pad 2 the next morning, the methane booster quick disconnect interface was replaced. The liquid oxygen interface was replaced the week before as crews continue to dial in the new hardware designs for a higher flight rate. Later that evening, one of the dampers was removed and replaced on the inner end of the starboard chopstick. These dampers help absorb and smoothly distribute the loads during a booster or ship catch.

Several sections of pre-fabricated steel destined for pad one, which will be filled with concrete, were delivered to the launch site as workers continue to armor the tower’s draw works area. The draw work system raises and lowers the chopstick carriage, and it’s critical that they keep working through launch and catch operations. 2 days after they arrived, workers began installing the draw works walls. Later that morning, one of the support columns that carry the weight of the launch mount into the flame trench foundation was also installed. Once all four are in place, welded and filled with concrete, they’ll be ready to bear the weight of the launch table and vehicle stack. While the above ground components start to come together, the underground sections are still a work in progress, and new sheet piles are being added at pad 1 for new excavation support. Looking forward to the near future, SpaceX has an aggressive.

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Chapter 7: Flight Testing Preparations

potential mission plan in mind for flight 15, possibly aiming to return both the ship and the booster to Starbase. Workers at the launchpad want to make sure that the catch tower at pad 2 is fully ready to do back-to-back catches of the booster and ship and have been putting the tower systems through several tests. The chopsticks were raised to the top of the tower on Monday and 2 days later after moving the ship quick disconnect arm, the chopsticks were raised again to the top of the tower. The catch arms were lowered a short time later, stopping halfway down the tower before completing their descent. The chopsticks were raised back to the top of the tower again on Thursday and performed several simulated catches of the rockets. In other news at Starbase, a large shower of sparks was seen raining down from the top of Gigab Bay on Monday evening, possibly from what appeared to be a cutting torch. In what may or may not have been a related event, the lights went out and the fire emergency lights came on at the Star Factory offices a few minutes later. On.

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Chapter 8: Starbase Expansion Plan

Tuesday, it was announced that SpaceX had submitted a notice of intent to file for a programmatic environmental impact statement, which would radically increase the number of annual launches out of Starbase. The first phase would increase operations from 25 launches a year to up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year. Phase 2, which would take place several years down the line, would be for up to 456 launches and 912 landings a year, but only on Monday through Friday. SpaceX will have to do significant work to determine if the site is suitable for such a high flight rate and the proposal is currently open for public comment. Rounding out this week’s update with Starship operations at the Cape, the TUG Addison Marie.

Chapter 9: Florida Operations

Arrived in Port Canaveral with a barge carrying another pair of tanks for the ever-growing propellant farms at the myriad of Starship pads under construction in Florida. After arriving at the turnbas, crews began unloading the tanks. The first tank was removed slowly to help maintain the barge’s ballast and the second following much more quickly. The first of the tanks began moving towards LC39A early the next morning where Starship’s first launch facility at the Cape is nearing completion. Working at the break of dawn on Monday, construction crews over at LC39A lifted the new roof onto the Starship tower. Much like the towers at Starbase, this structure helps protect the Draw Works hardware from flame impingement during flight. Zignet Warhorse 1 towed SpaceX’s Brownsville to Cape transport barge, you’ll thank me later, into Port Canaveral, which began offloading at the turnbas.

The next morning, two ship work stands and a Starlink loader were brought out of the barge as SpaceX reaches the final stretches toward beginning flight operations from the Space Coast. And there you have it, another Starship and Starbase update brought to you by Avid Space. As usual, make sure you punch all those buttons that keep you updated with all our new content. And in the meantime, keep an eye out for our next spaceflight industry update coming up later in the week. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you next week.

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