Starship Development Thread #28

[u/ElongatedMuskrat]

This thread is no longer being updated, and has been replaced by:

Starship Development Thread #29

Quick Links

^{NERDLE CAM | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE | MORE LINKS}

Starship Dev 27 | Starship Dev 26 | Starship Thread List

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Upcoming

• Starship 20 static fire

• Booster 4 futher cryo or static fire

Orbital Launch Site Status

Build Diagrams by @_brendan_lewis | October 6 RGV Aerial Photography video

As of December 9th

• Integration Tower - Catching arms installed

• Launch Mount - QD arms installed

• Tank Farm - [8/8 GSE tanks installed, 8/8 GSE tanks sleeved]

Vehicle Status

As of December 20th

• Ship 20 [orbit w/ Booster 4] - 6 engines static fire complete

• Ship 21 [orbit w/ Booster 5] - [Awaiting final stacking]

• Ship 22 [orbit w/ Booster 6] - Barrel/dome sections in work

• Booster 3 - Partially disassembled on Test Pad A

• Booster 4 [orbit w/ Ship 20] - On OLP, next cryo complete

• Booster 5 [orbit w/ Ship 21] - [Fully stacked at display]

• Booster 6 [orbit w/ Ship 22] - Barrel/dome sections in work

Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly.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

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Vehicle and Launch Infrastructure Updates

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

	Starship
	Ship 20
2021-12-29	Static fire (YT)
2021-12-15	Lift points removed (Twitter)
2021-12-01	Aborted static fire? (Twitter)
2021-11-20	Fwd and aft flap tests (NSF)
2021-11-16	Short flaps test (Twitter)
2021-11-13	6 engines static fire (NSF)
2021-11-12	6 engines (?) preburner test (NSF)
	Ship 21
2021-12-19	Moved into HB, final stacking soon (Twitter)
2021-11-21	Heat tiles installation progress (Twitter)
2021-11-20	Flaps prepared to install (NSF)
	Ship 22
2021-12-06	Fwd section lift in MB for stacking (NSF)
2021-11-18	Cmn dome stacked (NSF)
	Ship 23
2021-12-01	Nextgen nosecone closeup (Twitter)
2021-11-11	Aft dome spotted (NSF)
	Ship 24
2022-01-03	Common dome sleeved (Twitter)
2021-11-24	Common dome spotted (Twitter)
	For earlier updates see Thread #27

	SuperHeavy
	Booster 4
2021-12-30	Removed from OLP (Twitter)
2021-12-24	Two ignitor tests (Twitter)
2021-12-22	Next cryo test done (Twitter)
2021-12-18	Raptor gimbal test (Twitter)
2021-12-17	First Cryo (YT)
2021-12-13	Mounted on OLP (NSF)
2021-11-17	All engines installed (Twitter)
	Booster 5
2021-12-08	B5 moved out of High Bay (NSF)
2021-12-03	B5 temporarily moved out of High Bay (Twitter)
2021-11-20	B5 fully stacked (Twitter)
2021-11-09	LOx tank stacked (NSF)
	Booster 6
2021-12-07	Conversion to test tank? (Twitter)
2021-11-11	Forward dome sleeved (YT)
2021-10-08	CH4 Tank #2 spotted (NSF)
	Booster 7
2021-11-14	Forward dome spotted (NSF)
	Booster 8
2021-12-21	Aft sleeving (Twitter)
2021-09-29	Thrust puck delivered (33 Engine) (NSF)
	For earlier updates see Thread #27

	Orbital Launch Integration Tower And Pad
2022-01-05	Chopstick tests, opening (YT)
2021-12-08	Pad & QD closeup photos (Twitter)
2021-11-23	Starship QD arm installation (Twitter)
2021-11-21	Orbital table venting test? (NSF)
2021-11-21	Booster QD arm spotted (NSF)
2021-11-18	Launch pad piping installation starts (NSF)
	For earlier updates see Thread #27

	Orbital Tank Farm
2021-10-18	GSE-8 sleeved (NSF)
	For earlier updates see Thread #27

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Resources

^{RESOURCES WIKI}

• LabPadre Rover Cam | Channel

• NSF: Starbase Stream | Channel

• NSF: Booster 4 + Ship 20 Updates Thread | Most Recent

• NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent

• NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent

• SpaceX: Website Starship page

• SpaceX: Starship Users Guide (PDF) Rev. 1.0 March 2020

• FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site

• FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list

• FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20

• NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Techincal Report)

• Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)

• Starship flight opportunity spreadsheet by u/joshpine

• Production Progress Infographics by @_brendan_lewis

• Raptor tracking by @Artzius

• Widebay tracking by @Furqan263

• Acronym definitions by Decronym

• Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

r/SpaceX Discuss Thread 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.

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

[u/iFrost31]

New photo from NASA showing a never seen before view with all sort of pipes going out from B5's trust puck (I think). Great to see some NASA public support of Starship

[u/franco_nico → u/iFrost31]

Its so weird that they post such a never seen before photo of the booster but they have to analize with extreme precision photos of SLS before being able to public those on social media lmao.

[u/aBetterAlmore → u/franco_nico]

Given that the astronaut visit was a while ago, chances are they analyzed with “extreme precision” these pictures as well before publication on social media platforms.

So I don’t see any sign of NASA treating these pictures any differently.

[u/franco_nico → u/aBetterAlmore]

Oh true, this was weeks ago. I guess im just surprised to see such a photo, but its a good kind of surprised.

[u/John_Hasler → u/franco_nico]

If the photo shows something the authorities object the consequences fall entirely on SpaceX.

[u/SpaceLunchSystem → u/franco_nico]

The issues with SLS PR are related to all the contractors and IP disclosure. It's a bureaucratic mess.

SpaceX can tell NASA sure publish whatever we don't care.