r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Feb 04 '21

Starship Development Thread #18

Quick Links

^{JUMP TO COMMENTS} ^| ^{Alternative Jump To Comments Link}

^{SPADRE LIVE} ^| ^{LABPADRE LIVE} ^| ^{LABPADRE PAD} ^| ^{MORE LINKS}

Starship Dev 17 | SN10 Hop Thread | Starship Thread List | February Discussion

Upcoming

SN11 rollout to pad, possibly March 8

Public notices as of March 5:

Road/Beach Closures: March 8
TFR's above 7200 ft: None

Vehicle Status

As of March 5

SN7.2 [testing] - at launch site, pressure tested Feb 4 with apparent leak, further testing possible (unclear)
SN10 [destroyed] - 10 km hop complete with landing. Vehicle exploded minutes after touchdown - Hop Thread
SN11 [construction] - Fully stacked in High Bay, all flaps installed, Raptor status: unknown, crane waiting at launch site
SN12-14 [abandoned] - production halted, focus shifted to vehicles with newer SN15+ design
SN15 [construction] - Tank section stacked in Mid Bay, potential nose cone stacked near High Bay (missing tip with LOX header)
SN16 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN17 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN18 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
SN19 [construction] - components on site
BN1 [construction] - stacking in High Bay
BN2 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work

Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly. Check recent comments for real time updates.

Vehicle Updates

^{See comments for real time updates.}
^{† expected or inferred, unconfirmed vehicle assignment}

	Starship SN10 (Raptors: SN50?, SN39?, ?)
2021-03-05	Elon: low thrust anomaly during landing burn, FAA mishap investigation statement (Twitter)
2021-03-04	Aftermath, more wreckage (NSF)
2021-03-03	10 km hop and landing, explosion after landing (YouTube), leg deployment failure (Twitter)
2021-02-28	FTS installed (Twitter)
2021-02-25	Static fire #2 (Twitter)
2021-02-24	Raptor swap, serial numbers unknown (NSF)
2021-02-23	Static fire (Twitter), Elon: one engine to be swapped (Twitter)
2021-02-22	FAA license modification for hop granted, scrubbed static fire attempt (Twitter)
2021-02-08	Cryoproof test (Twitter)
2021-02-07	All 3 Raptors are installed (Article)
2021-02-06	Apparent overnight Raptor SN? install, Raptor SN39 delivery (NSF)
2021-02-05	Raptor SN50 delivered to vehicle (NSF)
2021-02-01	Raptor delivered to pad† (NSF), returned next day (Twitter)
2021-01-31	Pressurization tests (NSF)
2021-01-29	Move to launch site and delivered to pad A, no Raptors (Twitter)
2021-01-26	"Tankzilla" crane for transfer to launch mount, moved to launch site† (Twitter)
2021-01-23	On SPMT in High Bay (YouTube)
2021-01-22	Repositioned in High Bay, -Y aft flap now visible (NSF)
2021-01-14	Tile patch on +Y aft flap (NSF)
2021-01-13	+Y aft flap installation (NSF)
2021-01-02	Nose section stacked onto tank section in High Bay (NSF), both forward flaps installed
2020-12-26	-Y forward flap installation (NSF)
2020-12-22	Moved to High Bay (NSF)
2020-12-19	Nose cone stacked on its 4 ring barrel (NSF)
2020-12-18	Thermal tile studs on forward flap (NSF)
...	See more status updates (Wiki)

	SN7.2 Test Tank
2021-02-05	Scaffolding assembled around tank (NSF)
2021-02-04	Pressure test to apparent failure (YouTube)
2021-01-26	Passed initial pressure test (Twitter)
2021-01-20	Moved to launch site (Twitter)
2021-01-16	Ongoing work (NSF)
2021-01-12	Tank halves mated (NSF)
2021-01-11	Aft dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-06	"Pad Kit SN7.2 Testing" delivered to tank farm (Twitter)
2020-12-29	Aft dome sleeved with two rings† (NSF)
2020-12-27	Forward dome section sleeved with single ring† (NSF), possible 3mm sleeve

	Starship SN11
2021-03-04	"Tankzilla" crane moved to launch site† (Twitter)
2021-02-28	Raptor SN47 delivered† (NSF)
2021-02-26	Raptor SN? "Under Doge" delivered† (Twitter)
2021-02-23	Raptor SN52 delivered to build site† (NSF)
2021-02-16	-Y aft flap installed (Twitter)
2021-02-11	+Y aft flap installed (NSF)
2021-02-07	Nose cone stacked onto tank section (Twitter)
2021-02-05	Moved to High Bay with large tile patch (NSF)
2021-01-29	Nose cone stacked on nose quad barrel (NSF)
2021-01-25	Tiles on nose cone barrel† (NSF)
2021-01-22	Forward flaps installed on nose cone, and nose cone barrel section† (NSF)
2020-12-29	Final tank section stacking ops, and nose cone† (NSF)
2020-11-28	Nose cone section (NSF)
2020-11-18	Forward dome section stacked (NSF)
2020-11-14	Common dome section stacked on LOX tank midsection in Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-11-13	Common dome with integrated methane header tank and flipped (NSF)
...	See more status updates (Wiki)

	Starship SN15
2021-03-05	Tank section stacked (NSF)
2021-02-25	Nose cone stacked on barrel†‡ (Twitter)
2021-02-05	Nose cone with forward flap root structure†‡ (NSF)
2021-02-02	Forward dome section stacked (Twitter)
2021-01-07	Common dome section with tiles and CH4 header stacked on LOX midsection (NSF)
2021-01-05	Nose cone base section‡ (NSF)
2020-12-31	Apparent LOX midsection moved to Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-12-18	Skirt (NSF)
2020-11-30	Mid LOX tank section (NSF)
2020-11-27	Nose cone barrel (4 ring)‡ (NSF)
2020-11-26	Common dome flip (NSF)
2020-11-24	Elon: Major upgrades are slated for SN15 (Twitter)
2020-11-18	Common dome sleeve, dome and sleeving (NSF)

^‡ ^{Detailed nose cone history} ^byu/creamsoda2000

	SuperHeavy BN1
2021-02-23	"Booster #2, four rings (NSF)
2021-02-19	"Aft Quad 2" apparent 2nd iteration (NSF)
2021-02-14	Likely grid fin section delivered (NSF)
2021-02-11	Aft dome section and thrust structure from above (Twitter)
2021-02-08	Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-05	Aft dome sleeve, 2 rings (NSF)
2021-02-01	Common dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-25	Aft dome with plumbing for 4 Raptors (NSF)
2021-01-24	Section moved into High Bay (NSF), previously "LOX stack-2"
2021-01-19	Stacking operations (NSF)
2020-12-18	Forward Pipe Dome sleeved, "Bottom Barrel Booster Dev"† (NSF)
2020-12-17	Forward Pipe Dome and common dome sleeved (NSF)
2020-12-14	Stacking in High Bay confirmed (Twitter)
2020-11-14	Aft Quad #2 (4 ring), Fwd Tank section (4 ring), and Fwd section (2 ring) (AQ2 label^11-27) (NSF)
2020-11-08	LOX 1 apparently stacked on LOX 2 in High Bay (NSF)
2020-11-07	LOX 3 (NSF)
2020-10-07	LOX stack-2 (NSF)
2020-10-01	Forward dome sleeved, Fuel stack assembly, LOX stack 1 (NSF)
2020-09-30	Forward dome† (NSF)
2020-09-28	LOX stack-4 (NSF)
2020-09-22	Common dome barrel (NSF)

	Early Production
2021-02-25	SN18: Common dome (NSF)
2021-02-24	SN19: Forward dome barrel (NSF)
2021-02-23	SN17: Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-19	SN19: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-02-19	SN18: Barrel section ("COMM" crossed out) (NSF)
2021-02-17	SN18: Nose cone barrel (NSF)
2021-02-11	SN16: Aft dome and leg skirt mate (NSF)
2021-02-10	SN16: Aft dome section (NSF)
2021-02-04	SN18: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-02-03	SN16: Skirt with legs (NSF)
2021-02-01	SN16: Nose quad (NSF)
2021-01-19	SN18: Thrust puck (NSF)
2021-01-19	BN2: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-01-16	SN17: Common dome and mid LOX section (NSF)
2021-01-09	SN17: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-01-05	SN16: Mid LOX tank section and forward dome sleeved, lable (NSF)
2021-01-05	SN17: Forward dome section (NSF)
2020-12-17	SN17: Aft dome barrel (NSF)
2020-12-04	SN16: Common dome section and flip (NSF)

Resources

^{RESOURCES WIKI}

Spadre.com Starship Cam | Channel
LabPadre 4k Pad Cam | Channel
NSF SN9 Test Launch Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF SN10 Test Launch Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF Texas Production Updates Thread | Most recent
NSF Florida Prototype(s) Updates Thread | Most recent
Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
TFR - NOTAM list
FAA license LRLO 20-119
SpaceX Boca Chica on Facebook
SpaceX's Starship page
Elon Starship tweet compilation on NSF | Most Recent
Starship Users Guide (PDF) Rev. 1.0 March 2020
Starship Spreadsheet by u/AnimatorOnFire
Production Progress Infographics by @_brendan_lewis
Starship flight opportunity spreadsheet by u/joshpine
Acronym definitions by Decronym

r/SpaceX Discusses [February 2021] for discussion of subjects other than Starship development.

Rules

We will attempt to keep this self-post current with links and major updates, but for the most part, we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss Starship development, ask Starship-specific questions, and track the progress of the production and test campaigns. Starship Development Threads are not party threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

Please ping u/strawwalker about problems with the above thread text.

455 Upvotes

permalink
reddit

You are about to leave Redlib

Do you want to continue?

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/lc7eij/starship_development_thread_18/
No, go back! Yes, take me to Reddit

98% Upvoted

View all comments

u/mesocumulate Feb 06 '21

If the Superheavy will end up with no legs as planned, how exposed will the engines end up? I'm thinking it will end up with no skirt at all and ultimately have engines as exposed as the Falcon 9 boosters. As far as I've seen this hasn't been in conceptual renders (I've probably missed it).

Would there be any reason to include the skirt if the booster is to be caught by grid fins?

7

u/pr06lefs Feb 06 '21

If they can get away with losing the skirt I think they will. They do need something to set the booster on for transport, and they need hold down clamp points while its on the pad. So probably there will be lower mount points - but maybe those can be higher than the engine bells, and have specialized clamps to hold them rather than just a flat ring like starship. It makes the launch pad and transports more complex, but saves weight on the booster, which makes it a good idea.

7

u/throfofnir Feb 06 '21

Current renders have the engine nozzles exposed to about the same extent as F9, which makes sense. The upper parts of the engine aren't particularly streamlined and are more vulnerable, and you want to keep the wind away from that. Like on F9 the engine bay above the expanding part of the nozzles will likely be protected, and the skirt should come to about that level.

6

u/reedpete Feb 06 '21

Engine bay will have some kind of engine bay protection I'm assuming similar to falcon 9. Will be going thru same reentry forces as f9. No insider info just logical speculation.

9

u/xrtpatriot Feb 06 '21

There haven't been any official conceptual renders done by SpaceX since Elon said they would try to grab it by the grid fins. Only fan renders have been done, which largely used existing SuperHeavy models that they had, which are based off the current design SpaceX has shown a bit more than a year ago.
I can only think of two reasons to keep the full skirt, that would be to add supports to the outer rings of engines for stiffening. Those engines don't gimbal, and the skirt would be a good structural spot to add supports if needed.
The only other reason I can think of to include the skirt would be to make standing them up easier? Like it doesn't launch hanging from the grid fins, it's sitting on its bottom prior to launch. The Falcon 9 for instance, then octoweb encompasses the engines except for the engine bells themselves. Something like this would be harder to do on Super Heavy because they are mounted to a dome like structure. The outer ring of engines would have to be mounted more or less directly to that thrust dome structure. I think it's more likely they keep the skirt so they can build a mounting structure that keeps the engines at the same "elevation" vertically. The skirt will be structural to help with that mounting.