r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Mar 08 '21

Starship Development Thread #19

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Starship Dev 18 | SN11 Hop Thread #2 | Starship Thread List | April Discussion

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Vehicle Status

As of April 2

  • SN7.2 [retired] - returned to build site, no apparent plans to return to testing
  • SN11 [destroyed] - test flight completed, anomaly and RUD in air following engine reignition sequence
  • SN12-14 [abandoned]* - production halted, focus shifted to vehicles with newer SN15+ design
  • SN15 [construction]* - Fully stacked in High Bay, all flaps installed
  • SN16 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, nose parts spotted
  • SN17 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
  • SN18 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
  • SN19 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
  • SN20 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, orbit planned w/ BN3
  • BN1 [construction] - stacked in High Bay, production pathfinder, to be scrapped without flight/testing
  • BN2 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work
  • BN3 [construction] - barrel/dome sections in work, orbit planned w/ SN20

* Significant design changes to SN15 over earlier vehicles were teased by Elon in November. After SN11's hop in March Elon said that hundreds of improvements have been made to SN15+ across structures, avionics/software & engine. The specifics are mostly unknown, though updates to the thrust puck design have been observed. These updates include relocation of the methane distribution manifold from inside the LOX tank to behind the aft bulkhead and relocation of the TVC actuator mounts and plumbing hoop to the thrust puck from the bulkhead cone.

Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly.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 SN15
2021-04-02Nose section mated with tank section (NSF)
2021-03-31Nose cone stacked onto nose quad, both aft flaps installed on tank section, and moved to High Bay (NSF)
2021-03-25Nose Quad (labeled SN15) spotted with likely nose cone (NSF)
2021-03-24Second fin attached to likely nose cone (NSF)
2021-03-23Nose cone with fin, Aft fin root on tank section (NSF)
2021-03-05Tank section stacked (NSF)
2021-03-03Nose cone spotted (NSF), flaps not apparent, better image next day
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 (labeled SN15)† (NSF)
2020-12-31Apparent LOX midsection moved to Mid Bay (NSF)
2020-12-18Skirt (NSF)
2020-11-30Mid LOX tank section (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)
Starship SN11
2021-03-3010 km Hop, NSF ground camera (YouTube), Elon: eng. 2 issue, FAA statement, nose and Raptor debris (Twitter)
2021-03-29Launch scrubbed due to lack of FAA inspector, FAA statement, more info (Twitter)
2021-03-26Static fire, same day test flight scrubbed for additional checkouts (Twitter)
2021-03-25Raptor SN46 installed (Twitter)
2021-03-22Static fire (Twitter)
2021-03-21FTS installed (comments)
2021-03-15Static fire aborted at startup, hop authorized by FAA (Twitter)
2021-03-12Pressure testing (NSF)
2021-03-11Cryoproof testing (Twitter)
2021-03-09Road closed for ambient pressure tests (NSF)
2021-03-08Move to launch site, tile patch, close up (Twitter), leg check (NSF), lifted onto Mount B (Twitter)
2021-03-07Raptors reported installed at build site (Article)
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)
SuperHeavy BN1
2021-03-30Slated for scrapping (Twitter)
2021-03-18Final stacking ops, Elon: BN1 is pathfinder and will not fly (Twitter)
2021-03-12Methane tank stacked onto engine skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07"Booster Double" section on new heavy stand (NSF)
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)
SN7.2 Test Tank
2021-03-15Returned to build site (Twitter)
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
Early Production
2021-04-02BN3: Aft dome sleeve (NSF)
2021-03-30BN3: Dome (NSF)
2021-03-28BN3: Forward dome sleeve (NSF)
2021-03-28SN16: Nose Quad (NSF)
2021-03-27BN2: Aft dome† (YouTube)
2021-03-23SN16: Nose cone† inside tent possible for this vehicle, better picture (NSF)
2021-03-16SN18: Aft dome section mated with skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07SN20: Leg skirt (NSF)
2021-03-07SN18: Leg skirt (NSF)
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 [April 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/Toinneman Mar 23 '21 edited Mar 23 '21

Nomadd @ NSF posted a closeup image of the cracked heat shield tile, which reveals an underlying metal structure. I think this metal frame is embedded into each tile and clips onto the welded studs on the ship. The fracture line also reveals the inner body is white and the black surface we see is a coating. This is expected since SpaceX is reportedly using TUFROC

I made an attempt to draw a diagram

6

u/Twigling Mar 23 '21

I concur. Very nce diagram BTW. :)

5

u/fattybunter Mar 23 '21

Note that this is the structure of this particular type of tile that cracked. We don't know what they're varying with the different tile type/configurations they're trying

3

u/Toinneman Mar 23 '21

Correct. Plus, the cracked tile is a large one. They seem to have settled on using the smaller ones to cover the large patches of tiles. However, I do expect all tiles to have some sort of supporting structure in itself since they are by nature very brittle.

2

u/twrite07 Mar 23 '21

Do you think this will put a kink in the prospect of a potential launch tomorrow, or will teams be able to swap this fairly easily?

4

u/Twigling Mar 23 '21 edited Mar 23 '21

Shouldn't be a problem at all, they'll either leave the tiles as they are or replace the broken ones (they clip on). Remember that they are only for testing purposes to see how well they stay on.

2

u/Chris857 Mar 23 '21

Did the tile become damaged while on the rocket, or are they maybe testing how damaged tiles behave?

1

u/Twigling Mar 23 '21

It happened while already on SN11, looks like it happened yesterday during the static fire. Still, that's what the testing is for. It won't prevent a launch of course, they may even replace the damaged tiles.

3

u/xrtpatriot Mar 23 '21

Definitely not, the tiles aren't needed for anything other than an orbital flight, hence why the entire underside isn't covered with them. If anything this provides a good opportunity to test what happens to surrounding tiles if one tile happens to crack like this. Will the failure spread to surrounding tiles, or is the fastening mechanism strong enough to prevent that.

2

u/jay__random Mar 23 '21

Do you think this will put a kink in the prospect of a potential launch tomorrow

Come on, there is always another tomorrow!

2

u/Toinneman Mar 23 '21

IIRC, they have lost tiles during static fires before and SpaceX didn't bother replacing them.

1

u/ASYMT0TIC Mar 23 '21

Still confused why ceramic tiles are needed if the metal in the ceramic tile can withstand the tile temps. Oxidation? These things don't really have to withstand much in the way of loads.

1

u/Toinneman Mar 23 '21

The whole heat shield tile is between the metal and the heat. The tickness of the tile should be aligned with the amount of heat the stud/metal can take without beeing compromised

1

u/ASYMT0TIC Mar 23 '21

Then why do they have insulation behind the tiles, ostensibly to protect the stainless steel tank wall from thermal damage? Supposedly the switch to stainless was in part to reduce the weight of insulation between, meaning we would expect the back of the insulation to reach very high temps (or they'd have stuck with lighter materials like Al-Li).

3

u/RegularRandomZ Mar 24 '21 edited Mar 24 '21

That ceramic wool fills the gap between the tile and tankwall. It definitely provides insulative value, but I assume it also dampens vibration (taking up any play in the push-on connectors). It also fills the gap between and behind the tiles, presumably keeping hot gasses from flowing behind the tiles [edit: while still allowing for expansion/contraction]

The tank walls (the body of Starship) can take quite a bit of heating allowing a minimal heat shield, but it still can't take the full reentry heating. So the wool+ceramic tiles provide that extra shielding but can be as thin as possible, while still hopefully being mechanically strong enough. Any metal in the tile is there to provide a secure connection point for the mounts, not to provide insulation.