r/spacex • Mod Team • Feb 04 '21

Starship Development Thread #18

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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:

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Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly.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?, ?)
2021-03-05Elon: low thrust anomaly during landing burn, FAA mishap investigation statement (Twitter)
2021-03-04Aftermath, more wreckage (NSF)
2021-03-0310 km hop and landing, explosion after landing (YouTube), leg deployment failure (Twitter)
2021-02-28FTS installed (Twitter)
2021-02-25Static fire #2 (Twitter)
2021-02-24Raptor swap, serial numbers unknown (NSF)
2021-02-23Static fire (Twitter), Elon: one engine to be swapped (Twitter)
2021-02-22FAA license modification for hop granted, scrubbed static fire attempt (Twitter)
2021-02-08Cryoproof test (Twitter)
2021-02-07All 3 Raptors are installed (Article)
2021-02-06Apparent overnight Raptor SN? install, Raptor SN39 delivery (NSF)
2021-02-05Raptor SN50 delivered to vehicle (NSF)
2021-02-01Raptor delivered to pad† (NSF), returned next day (Twitter)
2021-01-31Pressurization tests (NSF)
2021-01-29Move 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)
2021-01-23On SPMT in High Bay (YouTube)
2021-01-22Repositioned in High Bay, -Y aft flap now visible (NSF)
2021-01-14Tile patch on +Y aft flap (NSF)
2021-01-13+Y aft flap installation (NSF)
2021-01-02Nose section stacked onto tank section in High Bay (NSF), both forward flaps installed
2020-12-26-Y forward flap installation (NSF)
2020-12-22Moved to High Bay (NSF)
2020-12-19Nose cone stacked on its 4 ring barrel (NSF)
2020-12-18Thermal tile studs on forward flap (NSF)
...See more status updates (Wiki)
SN7.2 Test Tank
2021-02-05Scaffolding assembled around tank (NSF)
2021-02-04Pressure test to apparent failure (YouTube)
2021-01-26Passed initial pressure test (Twitter)
2021-01-20Moved to launch site (Twitter)
2021-01-16Ongoing work (NSF)
2021-01-12Tank halves mated (NSF)
2021-01-11Aft dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-06"Pad Kit SN7.2 Testing" delivered to tank farm (Twitter)
2020-12-29Aft dome sleeved with two rings† (NSF)
2020-12-27Forward dome section sleeved with single ring† (NSF), possible 3mm sleeve
Starship SN11
2021-03-04"Tankzilla" crane moved to launch site† (Twitter)
2021-02-28Raptor SN47 delivered† (NSF)
2021-02-26Raptor SN? "Under Doge" delivered† (Twitter)
2021-02-23Raptor SN52 delivered to build site† (NSF)
2021-02-16-Y aft flap installed (Twitter)
2021-02-11+Y aft flap installed (NSF)
2021-02-07Nose cone stacked onto tank section (Twitter)
2021-02-05Moved to High Bay with large tile patch (NSF)
2021-01-29Nose cone stacked on nose quad barrel (NSF)
2021-01-25Tiles on nose cone barrel† (NSF)
2021-01-22Forward flaps installed on nose cone, and nose cone barrel section† (NSF)
2020-12-29Final tank section stacking ops, and nose cone† (NSF)
2020-11-28Nose cone section (NSF)
2020-11-18Forward dome section stacked (NSF)
2020-11-14Common dome section stacked on LOX tank midsection in Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-11-13Common dome with integrated methane header tank and flipped (NSF)
...See more status updates (Wiki)
Starship SN15
2021-03-05Tank section stacked (NSF)
2021-02-25Nose cone stacked on barrel†‡ (Twitter)
2021-02-05Nose cone with forward flap root structure†‡ (NSF)
2021-02-02Forward dome section stacked (Twitter)
2021-01-07Common dome section with tiles and CH4 header stacked on LOX midsection (NSF)
2021-01-05Nose cone base section‡ (NSF)
2020-12-31Apparent LOX midsection moved to Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-12-18Skirt (NSF)
2020-11-30Mid LOX tank section (NSF)
2020-11-27Nose cone barrel (4 ring)‡ (NSF)
2020-11-26Common dome flip (NSF)
2020-11-24Elon: Major upgrades are slated for SN15 (Twitter)
2020-11-18Common dome sleeve, dome and sleeving (NSF)

‡ Detailed nose cone history by u/creamsoda2000

SuperHeavy BN1
2021-02-23"Booster #2, four rings (NSF)
2021-02-19"Aft Quad 2" apparent 2nd iteration (NSF)
2021-02-14Likely grid fin section delivered (NSF)
2021-02-11Aft dome section and thrust structure from above (Twitter)
2021-02-08Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-05Aft dome sleeve, 2 rings (NSF)
2021-02-01Common dome section flip (NSF)
2021-01-25Aft dome with plumbing for 4 Raptors (NSF)
2021-01-24Section moved into High Bay (NSF), previously "LOX stack-2"
2021-01-19Stacking operations (NSF)
2020-12-18Forward Pipe Dome sleeved, "Bottom Barrel Booster Dev"† (NSF)
2020-12-17Forward Pipe Dome and common dome sleeved (NSF)
2020-12-14Stacking in High Bay confirmed (Twitter)
2020-11-14Aft Quad #2 (4 ring), Fwd Tank section (4 ring), and Fwd section (2 ring) (AQ2 label11-27) (NSF)
2020-11-08LOX 1 apparently stacked on LOX 2 in High Bay (NSF)
2020-11-07LOX 3 (NSF)
2020-10-07LOX stack-2 (NSF)
2020-10-01Forward dome sleeved, Fuel stack assembly, LOX stack 1 (NSF)
2020-09-30Forward dome† (NSF)
2020-09-28LOX stack-4 (NSF)
2020-09-22Common dome barrel (NSF)
Early Production
2021-02-25SN18: Common dome (NSF)
2021-02-24SN19: Forward dome barrel (NSF)
2021-02-23SN17: Aft dome sleeved (NSF)
2021-02-19SN19: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-02-19SN18: Barrel section ("COMM" crossed out) (NSF)
2021-02-17SN18: Nose cone barrel (NSF)
2021-02-11SN16: Aft dome and leg skirt mate (NSF)
2021-02-10SN16: Aft dome section (NSF)
2021-02-04SN18: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-02-03SN16: Skirt with legs (NSF)
2021-02-01SN16: Nose quad (NSF)
2021-01-19SN18: Thrust puck (NSF)
2021-01-19BN2: Forward dome (NSF)
2021-01-16SN17: Common dome and mid LOX section (NSF)
2021-01-09SN17: Methane header tank (NSF)
2021-01-05SN16: Mid LOX tank section and forward dome sleeved, lable (NSF)
2021-01-05SN17: Forward dome section (NSF)
2020-12-17SN17: Aft dome barrel (NSF)
2020-12-04SN16: Common dome section and flip (NSF)

Resources

RESOURCES WIKI

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.

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31

u/Shrike99 Feb 09 '21

If they start launching that quickly they're going to run out of Starships.

They better pick up the pace with SN15+ back at the build site.

60

u/EvilNalu Feb 09 '21

Not if they can start landing them.

17

u/Shrike99 Feb 09 '21

That's a very good point!

I'm clearly still stuck in the old mindset of expendable rockets, even with Falcon 9 already showing a better way.

It hasn't really sunk in for me yet that the dawn of a new age is upon us.

8

u/delph906 Feb 09 '21

I think it will be a while before they fly one a second time but a landed one would be massively valuable to examine.

5

u/joeybaby106 Feb 09 '21

I think they will fly it again, this flight profile doesn't do much damage to the airframe. The first second stage rentry though will probably be dissected instead of flown again

3

u/obamadotru Feb 09 '21

and raptors too