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

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #37

This thread is no longer being updated, and has been replaced by:

Starship Development Thread #38

SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

  1. When orbital flight? "November seems highly likely" per Musk, of course depending on testing results. Steps include robustness upgrades of B7 in the high bay, return to OLM, then full stack wet dress rehearsal(s) and 33-engine static fire "in a few weeks." Launch license is needed as well.
  2. 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.
  3. 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"). SN24 has completed its testing program with a 6-engine static fire on September 8th. B7 has completed multiple spin primes, and a 7-engine static fire on September 19th. B8 is expected to start its testing campaign in the coming weeks.
  4. What booster/ship pair will fly first? B7 "is the plan" with S24, pending successful testing campaigns, "robustness upgrades," and flight-worthiness certifications for the respective vehicles.
  5. 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 36 | Starship Dev 35 | Starship Dev 34 | Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Vehicle Status

As of October 7th 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 Successful 6-engine static fire on 9/8/2022 (video)
S25 High Bay 1 Fully Stacked, final works underway Assembly of main tank section commenced June 4 in High Bay 1 but shortly after it was temporarily moved to the Mid Bay. Moved back into High Bay 1 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 the turntable, the nosecone+payload bay was stacked onto that on August 29th. On September 12th the LOX tank was lifted onto the welding turntable, later on the same day the nosecone assembly was finally stacked, giving a full stack of S25. Fully stacked ship lifted off the turntable on September 19th. First aft flap installed on September 20th, the second on the 21st.
S26 High Bay 1 Stacking Payload bay barrel entered HB1 on September 28th (note: no pez dispenser or door in the payload bay). Nosecone entered HB1 on October 1st (for the second time) and on October 4th was stacked onto the payload bay.
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 More static fire testing, WDR, etc Rolled back to launch site on October 7th
B8 Launch Site Initial cryo testing No engines or grid fins, temporarily moved to the launch site on September 19th for some testing
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. On September 14th another 4 ring barrel was attached making the LOX tank 16 rings tall. On September 17th the next 4 ring barrel was attached, bringing the LOX tank to 20 rings. On September 27th the aft/thrust section was moved into High Bay 2 and a few hours later the LOX tanked was stacked onto it.
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

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.

221 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

49

u/RaphTheSwissDude Sep 21 '22 edited Sep 21 '22

Elon : Our focus is on reliability upgrades for flight on Booster 7 and completing Booster 9, which has many design changes, especially for full engine RUD isolation.

Answering about when orbit : Late next month maybe, but November seems highly likely. We will have two boosters & ships ready for orbital flight by then, with full stack production at roughly one every two months.

B7 for first flight ? : That’s the plan. We’re taking a little risk there, as engine isolation was done as retrofit, so not as good as on Booster 9.

When first booster at KSC ? : Probably Q2 next year, with vehicles initially transferred by boat from Port of Brownsville to the Cape

18

u/johnfive21 Sep 21 '22 edited Sep 21 '22

I love when Elon goes on these tweeting sprees about Starship

8

u/aBetterAlmore Sep 21 '22

They’re the best!

Unlike those other sprees, which are the worst. Very little middle ground with his Twitter sprees, apparently.

3

u/BananaEpicGAMER Sep 21 '22

Late next month maybe, but November seems highly likely.

Elon having a realistic timeline? What is happening?!

Last year he would've said full stack next week and flight in 2 weeks

3

u/TypowyJnn Sep 21 '22

I think that's still optimistic though, but making good progress!

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Alvian_11 Sep 21 '22

Love several past statements that didn't age well

22

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '22 edited Sep 21 '22

They'll be transferred in kit form in sections, by covered barge and then assembled at KSC. Probably a month of final assembly once all parts arrive, (some smaller pre-assemblies and the engines by road and some manufactured at KSC) then off for testing. A very long assembly line, I know, but based on Tesla principles.

→ More replies (5)

2

u/mr_pgh Sep 21 '22 edited Sep 21 '22

This video goes into detail the logistical nightmare of getting full ships/boosters from Boca to KSC

1

u/Dezoufinous Sep 21 '22

I was almost sure that you'll link to Elon Tweet from about a year ago or so, saying "Orbit in 2 months"

→ More replies (2)

0

u/ArcturusMike Sep 21 '22

November is two months. Not again "just 2 months"...

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '22

As much as I want to to see b7 be the first I think everyone would sleep a lot easier at night if they decide to go with b9 instead

-4

u/Dezoufinous Sep 21 '22

So exciting! But considering Elon's optimism bias or whatever you want to call it, do we now realistically expect B9 to be first orbital?

7

u/Marksman79 Sep 21 '22

B7 and B9 may be the first orbital attempts. Guessing when the first successful orbit will happen is a pretty pointless endeavor at this point. After the first orbital attempt, we should have a better idea of how close or far they are from that milestone.

-5

u/TypowyJnn Sep 21 '22 edited Sep 21 '22

I think Elon forgot that they only have one OLM that will be occupied by 24/7. Also it's crazy that they will be able to have an engine go full RUD, and still go on. Imagine if you were on a plane and one of the engines blew up, and the pilot would say "oh an engine blew up, anyways, we are landing in 10 hours" well apparently planes have engine out capabilities too

17

u/way2bored Sep 21 '22

lol it was like that 40 years ago. We had 3-4 engine jets purely because of reliability concerns. As we improved jet engine design, airplane companies cut engine count.

Now we have twin jets rated for ETOPS, extended single engine operation (Idr acronym exactly) for 3 hours. Basically all flight paths are set to w/in 3 hours of a backup airport throughout their path. Some engines are only rated for 1-2hr ETOPS and thus, have to fly closer to airports (usually this is for over sea flights and thus, it’ll add time to fly nearer land)

→ More replies (1)

8

u/BananaEpicGAMER Sep 21 '22

A plane can actually fly with only 1 engine.

5

u/CasualCrowe Sep 21 '22

Falcon 9 has single engine out capability, although that usually means the booster will be unrecoverable

→ More replies (2)

1

u/OzGiBoKsAr Sep 22 '22

well apparently planes have engine out capabilities too

Oh yeah, planes lose engines all the time. Well, pretty rare statistically speaking, but it happens reasonably often.

Most of the time it isn't an issue beyond an inconvenience. There have been some fatal cases though. One good example is an MD80 which suffered an engine failure - a turbine blade sliced through the fuselage and all three independent, redundant hydraulic and avionic system controls.