Flight 15 Vehicles Tested Ahead of November Launch! [9:03]

Transcript

With ship 42 and booster 22 in the final process flow ahead of launch. The ship and boosters for flight 15 and 16 are moving ahead for a needed ramp up in launch rates. Construction is also winding down on the gigabay and work is just getting started on an expansion at the Massie outpost. So, let’s take a look at how preparations are going in this week’s Avid Space Starship update.

Launch Vehicle Activity

Starting off with launch vehicle activity, we’ll be focusing on ship 42, 43, and 45, as well as boosters 22, 23, and 24, which is where we’ll begin. Booster 24 remains in production, and new barrel sections continue to roll into Mega Bay 1. With assembly of the booster’s propellant tanks closing in on the finish line, it won’t be much longer before this Super Heavy is ready for cryoproofing. A few days later, the booster’s liquid oxygen landing tank installation jig was moved from Star Factory into the ringard outside Mega Bay 1, traveling through Reios Avenue of the booster’s final stacking.

Moving on to review activity related to booster 23 this week, it had a confusing journey. After finishing cryo testing at the Massie outpost the week before, it was brought back to the build site, then rolled out to Massiey’s for a second time on Tuesday night for what was expected to be another round of cryoproof testing. After one day at Massy’s and with no setup or testing at the stands, booster 23 departed once again and was brought back to the build site. When booster 23 arrived, it was taken to Mega Bay 1 and brought back inside the bay. This Super Heavy still needs to perform a static fire test, but if the checkout crews have decided it’s successfully passed cryo testing, that static fire test may come sooner than you think.

Moving down the line now to focus on booster 22 following last week’s static fire. The booster was lifted off the launch mount just before midnight on Sunday and lowered onto the awaiting transport stand. Once the Superheavy was set down, the chopsticks were lowered and booster 22 departed the launch complex. The booster made its way back up Highway 4 in the night and headed back into Mega Bay 1 for final preparations and outfitting ahead of flight 15, which is now scheduled for no earlier than November 12th.

Starship Activity

Shifting gears now to take a look at ongoing work with Starships. Let’s start off with ship 45. Following last week’s work, the Starlink dispenser installation jig was taken out of Mega Bay 2 and the ship’s nose cone was set back down at ground level before being taken out of the bay. This was probably to make more room for assembly work as the nose cone was moved back inside the next day. About an hour after the forward section was moved back into Mega Bay 2, ship 45’s forward dome assembly was brought out of Star Factory and taken inside the bay for assembly.

Just before midnight on Friday, ship 45’s common dome section made an appearance and was moved into Mega Bay 2 for stacking. And about three hours later, ship 45’s forward section, now mated to the forward dome assembly, was positioned over the common dome so the two sections could be tandem lifted onto a work stand for mating.

Moving down the line now, Starship 43 left the Massie outpost and was taken back to the build site in the early morning hours of Tuesday, completing the journey back in about 2 hours. Once ship 43 was back inside Mega Bay 2, it was lifted off the test stand and set back down on a transport stand. Later that afternoon, the operations team decided to send the ship down to the launch complex for some handling tests, and ship 43 promptly left the build site for the journey down Highway 4.

Once it arrived at the launch complex, ship 43 was brought to pad 2 and set down between the chopsticks, which soon began setting up to lift the ship. Late in the evening and into the night, ship 43 was held in midair with the arms swinging the ship a bit to the side as they climbed to the very top of the launch tower. Once it reached the correct height, the ship quick disconnect was then extended and attached to the ship. The arm was disconnected a few hours later and ship 43 was lowered back down to the transport stand.

After the sun rose, the chopsticks were lowered from the ship’s lifting points. The sticks were closed again a few minutes later and raised back to ship 43’s lift points. About 90 minutes after that, ship 43 was moved closer to the launch tower. The chopsticks were then raised, taking ship 43 off the transport stand for its next test, which saw the chopsticks as pushers drive the ship to the ends of the lift and catch arms. With that, the tests were completed and the ship was lowered back down onto the transport stand.

Later in the evening, the ship was moved away from the chopsticks and sent to the main gate before moving on to Highway 4 and heading up to the build site. While ship 43 was in route to the build site, the overhead crane in Mega Bay 2 was hooked up to the shiplifter ahead of its arrival. At the end of its journey, ship 43 was brought directly back into Mega Bay 2, clearing the way for booster 23 to embark on its trip to the Mass Bassie outpost.

Ship 42, which is scheduled to fly next, will be the final ship we look at in this week’s update. On Sunday night, the static fire stand was brought over to the ringard and taken into Mega Bay 2, and the ship was rolling out of the bay on top of the stand a few hours later. Like the other trips to Massie, ship 42 began its journey near midnight, minimizing the traffic disruptions as the ship blocked traffic in and out of Starbase while traveling up the highway. An interesting point of note, not to be overlooked, was that a barrel section also accompanied the ship on its journey to Masses. And once ship 42 arrived, it was moved directly to the static fire station. The barrel section that accompanied it was set down next to the ship where it would be exposed to the active test environment.

Testing then began a few hours later. The first visible test was a forward and a flap check as workers verified functionality of the ship’s electrical systems. The tank farm began loading the ship with propellants in the evening, culminating with a short 15-second fire of one Raptor engine, simulating a de-orbit burn. With Starships now operating in orbit, it’s critical that this burn goes as planned. Otherwise, the ship will be stuck in space until its orbit decays and experiences an uncontrolled re-entry.

A second static fire test was performed the next day with a full load of liquid oxygen and a partial load of liquid methane transferred to the ship. When the countdown reached zero, ship 42 performed a six-engine 60-second static fire. With this burn, the final pre-flight system checkouts were complete, and only a handful of items remain on the checklist, such as arming the flight termination system. SpaceX also shared videos of the static fire test from inside the engine skirt. The six-engine test and the single-engine test were both featured in the update.

Ship 42’s flaps were put through one more follow-up test the next morning to make sure the actuators and flaps were still working as designed before the ship was taken off the static fire stand and sent back to the build site. The barrel section that was positioned near the test stand for the static fire was also taken back to the build site. Upon the ship’s arrival, it was taken directly into Mega Bay 2 for its final pre-flight prep.

Construction Updates

Moving on now to our construction updates. At the build site, a tower crane cab was taken down as work continues to disassemble the cranes that built Gigabay. The cab was then transported out the next day. Additional modules continued to be removed from the tower crane throughout the week. The disassembly moved quickly and all of the components were eventually dismantled and shipped out of Starbase. Structural steel continued to arrive at the build site and these new pieces, possibly connectors, were briefly parked in front of Gigabay before being sent over to Sanchez.

The final missing windows from the lower levels of Gigab Bay were also installed this week. At the start of the week, there was only one window missing from the Sanchez side of the bay. By Wednesday, crews had installed the last of the lower-level Gigabay windows on the front-facing side of the building with the final pieces of glass on that level being installed by early afternoon. Crews continued installing the few remaining pieces of structural steel in the upper floors as well.

Looking now at construction activities related to the launch complex this week, just visible at the Sanchez site. Work continued on the new Pad 1 launch mount with the installation of multiple top deck segments and embedded water suppression routing inside them. Just outside the launch complex, concrete crews were busy pouring new concrete into the propellant offload area. The space is being redesigned to improve replenishment operations between flights.

Moving back up the highway now to the Massie Outpost. Work is picking up following an approval being granted for an expansion of the test site. A drill rig has now left the main area and is now on the site of the expansion for foundation prep work. Over in the structural testing area, a beam was removed from the top of the structural test stand. This could be a sign that something new will be going on in the test cage soon.

And finally for this week, in testing activities not directly related to launch vehicles, crews once again performed a test on the pad 2 detonation suppression systems.

And there you have it, another Starship and Starbase update brought to you by Avid Space. As always, 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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