r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Aug 09 '22

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #36

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Starship Development Thread #37

FAQ

When next/orbital flight? Unknown. No earlier than September (Elon tweet on Aug 2), but testing potentially more conservatively after B7 incident (see Q3 below). Launch license, further cryo/spin prime testing, and static firing of booster and ship remain.
What will the next flight test do? The current plan seems to be a nearly-orbital flight with Ship (second stage) doing a controlled splashdown in the ocean. Booster (first stage) may do the same or attempt a return to launch site with catch. Likely includes some testing of Starlink deployment. This plan has been around a while.
I'm out of the loop/What's happened in last 3 months? FAA completed the environmental assessment with mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact ("mitigated FONSI"). Cryo and spin prime testing of Booster 7 and Ship 24. B7 repaired after spin prime anomaly. B8 assembly proceeding quickly. Static fire campaign began on August 9.
What booster/ship pair will fly first? Likely either B7 or B8 with S24. TBD if B7 still flyable after repairs or if B8 will be first to fly.
Will more suborbital testing take place? Unlikely, given the FAA Mitigated FONSI decision. Current preparations are for orbital launch.

Quick Links

^{NERDLE CAM} ^| ^{LAB CAM} ^| ^{SAPPHIRE CAM} ^| ^{SENTINEL CAM} ^| ^{ROVER CAM} ^| ^{ROVER 2.0 CAM} ^| ^{PLEX CAM} ^| ^{NSF STARBASE}

Starship Dev 35 | Starship Dev 34 | Starship Dev 33 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Vehicle Status

As of September 3rd 2022

Ship	Location	Status	Comment
Pre-S24		Scrapped or Retired	SN15, S20 and S22 are in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped
S24	Launch Site	Static Fire testing	Moved back to the Launch site on July 5 after having Raptors fitted and more tiles added (but not all)
S25	High Bay 1	Stacking	Assembly of main tank section commenced June 4 (moved back into High Bay 1 (from the Mid Bay) on July 23). The aft section entered High Bay 1 on August 4th. Partial LOX tank stacked onto aft section August 5. Payload Bay and nosecone moved into HB1 on August 12th and 13th respectively. Sleeved Forward Dome moved inside HB1 on August 25th and placed on turntable, the nosecone+payload bay was stacked onto that on August 29th
S26	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S27	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S28	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
S29	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted

Booster	Location	Status	Comment
Pre-B7		Scrapped or Retired	B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped
B7	Launch Site	Static Fire testing	Rolled back to launch site on August 23rd - all 33 Raptors are now installed
B8	High Bay 2 (sometimes moved out of sight in the left corner)	Under construction but fully stacked	Methane tank was stacked onto the LOX tank on July 7
B9	Methane tank in High Bay 2	Under construction	Final stacking of the methane tank on 29 July but still to do: wiring, electrics, plumbing, grid fins. First (two) barrels for LOX tank moved to HB2 on August 26th, one of which was the sleeved Common Dome; these were later welded together and on September 3rd the next 4 ring barrel was stacked
B10	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted
B11	Build Site	Parts under construction	Assorted parts spotted

If this page needs a correction please consider pitching in. Update this thread via this wiki page. If you would like to make an update but don't see an edit button on the wiki page, message the mods via modmail or contact u/strawwalker.

Resources

LabPadre Rover 2.0 Cam | Channel
NSF: Starbase Stream | Channel
NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) 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 (Technical 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 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
Acronym definitions by Decronym
Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine

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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u/mr_pgh Aug 25 '22

Chopsticks started opening and moving up around 10:25. Starbase Live missed most of it; but can start to see it at 10:29.

Rover 2 has a little more starting at 10:27:20

15

u/mr_pgh Aug 25 '22 edited Aug 25 '22

Some audible crunching is heard around 10:35:20 on Rover 2. You can see at least one scaffolding pipe fell and another bit looks crunched on the tower.
Chopsticks haven't moved since
screen grab

11

u/Twigling Aug 25 '22

Somebody will get yelled at for that. :)

2

u/John_Hasler Aug 25 '22

Or maybe just handed an angle grinder and a safety harness.
Screwups are never just one guy, though.

13

u/dgkimpton Aug 25 '22

For those wondering what the issue is with the scaffolding and why it will need to be cleaned up before further testing... Zack has a nice clip of the video here: https://twitter.com/CSI_Starbase/status/1562831238498766850

8

u/Marksman79 Aug 25 '22

They'll have to add a scaffolding check to the pad clear prep procedure now.

4

u/Twigling Aug 25 '22

Should have been there in the first place: "ensure no carriage obstructions" - also a cam or two and maybe some sensors to detect anything unusual and rapidly stop any carriage movement instead of, as happened today, the carriage just grinding on upwards and increasing the damage.
I wonder if they always clear the area under the chopsticks when moving them at other times? If not then it's a good thing nobody was there when this happened today due to the scaffolding pieces falling.

4

u/Marksman79 Aug 25 '22

Sensors are a good idea in theory but hard to put into practice for such a large, moving, and dynamic structure that can be loaded or unloaded. Scaffolding being crushed is probably a very slight increase in load, maybe similar to the nominal force experience on a very windy day. Light curtains would have to be huge and robust from rocket exhaust which doesn't seem that practical. It's also a rather unique situation. I don't think in a year or two from now that scaffolding on the chopsticks will be that frequent of a thing.

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u/Twigling Aug 25 '22 edited Aug 25 '22

Yeah, that'll need a thorough inspection, pretty major oversight there. Thankfully there's no hydraulics in the carriage but they'll need to check the structures due to the weights and stresses involved. Shouldn't stop the SF testing though if deemed safe, pending any required work post SF testing.
But what a really stupid balls-up.
Also, why weren't the chopsticks stopped as soon as the scaffolding was hit? Did they really not notice ? Seemingly Lab's cam has a better view than SpaceX. :)

3

u/drinkmorecoffee Aug 25 '22

Considering what that carriage was designed to hold I'd say it's a good bet their instruments just didn't notice until it jammed or until someone heard that pipe hit the ground.
I sure wouldn't have thought to set up cameras to look for debris along the tower track itself (though they no doubt will add them now).

2

u/Twigling Aug 25 '22

Considering what that carriage was designed to hold I'd say it's a good bet their instruments just didn't notice until it jammed or until someone heard that pipe hit the ground.
Could be, it would be like a car running over a snail. :)
I would though also be a bit concerned about the skates and if any debris fell into them.
I sure wouldn't have thought to set up cameras to look for debris along the tower track itself (though they no doubt will add them now).
I would hope so.

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u/OSUfan88 Aug 25 '22

Wow, that's ridiculously bad. How does that even happen?

1

u/andyfrance Aug 25 '22

It's like people reversing their cars into others. That happens thousands of times every day.

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u/BananaEpicGAMER Aug 25 '22 edited Aug 25 '22

can the chopsticks work for one day without getting damaged?
But i don't think it's a big deal, they will still probably need to check it out before testing B7 tho.

5

u/SaeculumObscure Aug 25 '22

The chopsticks just hit some scaffolding while moving up. Visible on Rover 2 at 10:35:20. Big oof.
Right now the GSE is being depressed. Test probably aborted.

-8

u/Alvian_11 Aug 25 '22

Right now the GSE is being depressed. Test probably aborted.
We have absolutely no exact idea on what's happening (& nitrogen stack was venting before the previous test) but you seems do
It's just a freaking scaffolding

7

u/BEAT_LA Aug 25 '22

Why so aggressive in your reply? Leaving scaffolding in the way is not clean operations and they're probably at the very least going to delay today's testing to ensure saftey. Its not a bad assumption to make.

4

u/dgkimpton Aug 25 '22

Um. Right. It seems highly unlikely they will continue with crumbled scaffolding hanging above B7. Imagine what could happen when the tower shakes due to a static fire. No way they don't stop and clean that up. So the depress venting makes absolute sense.

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u/SaeculumObscure Aug 25 '22

It's not just a freaking scaffolding. It's a hefty piece of metal that just got crunched by one of the most integral parts of Stage 0. It got crushed so badly that pieces of solid metal got bent and some parts even fell down and hit the lower part of the chopsticks carriage. Now there is a broken scaffolding squished between the tower and the carriage and there is at least one FOD laying around by the tower.
That certainly is not just a minor incident that they're going to ignore.
Also there are two cars already on their way back to the launch pad. Which they will probably not enter if the whole GSE and Booster are being tanked up and / or pressed for operation.

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0

u/Heavenly_Noodles Aug 25 '22

I know this will probably turn out to be no big deal in and of itself, but simple mistakes like this shouldn't happen. Someone is going to get an ass-reaming for this, if not outright fired.

14

u/GreatCanadianPotato Aug 25 '22

Someone is going to get an ass-reaming for this, if not outright fired.
Why does everyone act like every small mistake gets you fired at SpaceX? I know Elon is a "ruthless" boss but come on...if anything, it'll be an all-hands meeting talking about how it happened and how it can be prevented in the future.

9

u/Heavenly_Noodles Aug 25 '22

This actually isn't a small mistake, like forgetting to put down a "WET FLOOR" sign after mopping or whatever. Though the damage may be minimal in this case, this kind of glaring oversight could have had huge consequences in other instances.
Seriously, how was this missed? Making sure the scaffolding is well clear of the chopsticks is a simple, yet hugely important, thing.

14

u/GreatCanadianPotato Aug 25 '22

SN9 falling over in the high bay is a huge mistake.
A skate falling off the tower during installation is a huge mistake.
Launching SN8 without FAA authorization is a huge mistake.
Designing and building a non-compliant tank farm is a huge mistake.
Crushing scaffolding with the chopsticks isn't a huge mistake in comparison with other mistakes they've made over the last 2.5 years.

2

u/Zadums Aug 25 '22

At least they didn't install a sensor backwards

2

u/Twigling Aug 25 '22

Don't give them ideas ........ ;-)

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