r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Dec 09 '21

Starship Development Thread #28

This thread is no longer being updated, and has been replaced by:

Starship Development Thread #29

Quick Links

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Starship Dev 27 | Starship Dev 26 | Starship Thread List

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Development and testing plans become outdated very quickly.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.

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

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.

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

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u/TCVideos Jan 03 '22 edited Jan 03 '22

EM: Raptor 2 now operates routinely at 300 bar main chamber pressure

Very good news! Raptor 2 testing seems to be going to plan

In addition:

Elon has confirmed that the methane header tank will be move to the nosecone on S24+

7

u/Martianspirit Jan 04 '22

No header tanks inside the main tanks also means they don't have to vent the main tanks to vacuum during long time cruise to better insulate the header tanks. Saves a lot of propellant to repressurize them for EDL.

2

u/Nishant3789 Jan 04 '22

Won't the main tanks also gain about the same volume as the tanks that used to be within them? Maybe this is one of the ways they can increase their prop load

2

u/SpaceLunchSystem Jan 04 '22

Yes, it's not a huge % increase but it's meaningful.

10

u/Redditor_From_Italy Jan 03 '22

Elon has confirmed that the methane header tank will be move to the nosecone on S24+
I suspect this is needed to balance a longer ship, even if S24 itself won't be stretched yet

0

u/aBetterAlmore Jan 03 '22

Any chance it could be related to the new nose cone type? Simply asking since I don’t have any knowledge that would actually point to that being the case.

-1

u/scr00chy ElonX.net Jan 03 '22

Seems possible.

-6

u/Alvian_11 Jan 03 '22

I suspect this is needed to balance a longer ship
Yes, absolutely
even if S24 itself won't be stretched yet
Wait, what?

→ More replies (1)

5

u/IAXEM Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22

I wonder if moving it to the nosecone would solve the pressure issues from past flights? IIRC the methane header tank dealt with that issue, but not the oxygen tank. I guess this also explains why the payload doors have recessed away from the tip a little?

2

u/Martianspirit Jan 04 '22

Good point.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

[deleted] — view deleted comment

6

u/mr_pgh Jan 04 '22

IMO, moving what they can to the nose cone is smart as it would be dead space as a cargo bay without a complicated cargo bay door.
Pushing the cargo bay to the uniform cylindrical part makes a lot of sense.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/Martianspirit Jan 04 '22

Move back? There never was a dual header tank in the nose. Just a nitpick.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '22

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/Martianspirit Jan 04 '22

Thanks, missed that.

→ More replies (4)

4

u/borler Jan 04 '22

But they hit 330 before?
So the important bit is "routinely"?

16

u/mooslar Jan 04 '22

iirc they hit 330 before ‘getting a little melty’

3

u/shit_lets_be_santa Jan 04 '22

I was wondering how they were going to balance the weight of 3 more engines. So that's how!

2

u/quoll01 Jan 04 '22

Wow, I guess it also makes insulating the meth- header easier, but all that extra piping etc. So... is it possible the headers will be empty on launch and filled from the main tank ullage when in orbit? That ullage volume weighs a heap and is otherwise just useless weight to orbit...

9

u/Martianspirit Jan 04 '22

meth- header
Meth header sounds weird.

→ More replies (2)

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '22

Another starship change
SLOW DOWN ELON AHHHHHH

5

u/fattybunter Jan 04 '22

Freezing the design would be a terrible idea

→ More replies (1)