Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can
stay up to date with everything SpaceX. Today’s episode is once again mostly
Starship updates with the exception of a couple of articles. After which, we'll
take a look at the Boca Chica launch area, further SN4 testing, SN5 build
and also SN6. Let’s head straight in and get up to date… Starting with this
article about the possibility of NASA using Falcon Heavy as a launch vehicle
for the Artemis gateway. We already know that the Dragon XL will launch on
a Falcon Heavy to deliver supplies to the gateway. However, in this article,
whilst there is nothing concrete and NASA hasn’t selected a launch system yet,
it talks about how NASA had to assure themselves of a vehicle that could do it,
that being Falcon Heavy. Next up we have an article about astronomers’ reactions
to the new news about reducing Starlink brightness. I recently showed you the
blog post from SpaceX on Starlink reflectivity efforts, which they seem to
be pleased with. Whilst it says that astronomers don’t know if the measures
will work yet, they say that they’re hopeful it will help fix the problem.
Other than those two articles, there’s not much else to talk about so we’ll
head over to Boca Chica. Here you can see that workers are constructing a new test
stand. With SN4 still alive and SN5 getting close to ready, along with SN6
coming together at pace, this makes a lot of sense. You can see here that they’ve
also installed what I believe is for either a fire or the sound suppression
system. The company seems to be outpacing itself with production seemingly
catching up with testing. I think it would be really cool if we got to see 2
Starship prototypes sitting on test stands at the same time. Here’s the other
thing I want to show you at the launch area before we move to some quick
Starship stuff. You can see here a vehicle belonging to Fugro, and this
particular vehicle is a cone penetrometer system. I did a bit of research and it
looks like this is used for testing and characterising soil.
I’m guessing based on what I’ve read is this will help with the foundations
for big buildings such as the launch tower. Let’s now take a look at some
Starship stuff that I’ve come across. First up is a cool timeline somebody
called Wes created and posted to the NSF forum. It gives a great perspective
of the speed at which SpaceX has progressed through each of their
Starship vehicles. Starting with SN1 through to SN6, it’s incredible to see
how much has been done, and then to consider that this is only the
beginning. Further rings have also been moving around, particularly near the new
ring fabrication building as you can see here. However, my question right now is
what rings are we seeing, we already know there are some stacked SN6
sections. So maybe these are for the missing SN6 segments, but we could
also be seeing SN7, but it’s too early to tell.
Also in this clip, I thought I would point out that you can see some bulkhead
sections in the bottom left. These could very well be for SN7. With Boca
Chica and SpaceX info covered, we'll move onto SN4 which as you can see here is
still standing. Over the last week this vehicle has been through many a test and
lives to tell the story. Wednesday May 6th, on the evening of
my last upload, SpaceX performed yet another static fire test. Once again, it
was a success as you can see here. So this vehicle has done a bunch of
pressure tests, preburner tests of the engine and two successful static fires,
absolutely amazing. After the second static fire, Elon Musk
was asked if it was a success, to which he responded with “Yes. Static fire feeding
from fuel header vs main tank.” Musk was also asked about the methane flare stack
which we saw last episode got a bit wild, as to whether or not it was of concern.
He responded to say “Flare stack flamed out. In a few weeks we’ll be recondensing
methane using solar power, so no flare stack.” Whilst I’m no expert, I have read
that the reason for the flare stack is to burn off extra fuel when the tanks
reach dangerous pressure levels. Elon Musk elaborated on the solar power method
to say “In this case, just chilling the gas back to liquid.” Still on SN4,
let’s take a look at the Raptor engine that recently performed the static fires.
You can see here that since the second static fire it has been detached from the
vehicle. Also it appears that this Raptor was SN18, which has had quite a ride
since its birth. Months ago it was in McGregor
on a vertical test stand, then moved over to Boca Chica, after which it was
obviously attached to SN4. Finally for SN4 and the test area, you can see here
that the hydraulic rams were moved back over to the prototype. These rams have
also had workers reassembling it in preparation for being reattached to the
launch mount. As you can see here, those rams have been reinstalled underneath.
Not only that but I believe that last night SpaceX may have also done another
pressure test as you can see here. Whilst it was definitely not a full cryo test,
it seems like something happened pressure wise. Something I want to share
with you since I found it useful is a tweet from Rafael Adamy explaining
the different test indicators. So when SpaceX are doing pressure tests, these
are the indicators as to what’s happening in the tanks. You can see here
that there are still dates posted by Cameron County for road and beach
closures. Some of these dates have obviously passed, with the next
primary testing date being May 11th. What they’ll utilise that date for though I’m
not entirely sure. Now for the final parts of the video,
SN5 and SN6, starting with the SN5 thrust section which was recently seen
outside. Here we have the upper part of the bottom section which contains the
new and improved thrust puck. Then there’s also the very bottom rings for this thrust
section which were also outside for stacking. As you can see here, that’s
exactly what happened next, both of these segments were put together.
Also for SN5, you can see here that the upper bulkhead for the tank has also been
stacked in the high bay. Engineers are continuing to work on it, and behind the
nose cone you can see the thrust section hanging out.
They’ve also attached the lifting mechanism so we all know what that means,
very soon SN5’s tank section will be stacked. With what Elon Musk said
previously about SN5 having a nose cone and possibly flaps too, it seems that
there’s still quite a bit to do. Last thing for SN5 is Rafael’s latest build
diagram, and it’s looking amazing, I just can’t wait for testing. Finally, SN6,
which we haven’t seen much of recently has popped up. Here you can see some
stacked rings for the liquid oxygen tank section. I’m not sure if there’s a common
bulkhead in there yet but it’s possible the next step for this section is
sleeving. Like we normally do with each Starship
construction, here’s the latest SN6 build diagram from Rafael Adamy. Thanks
to him for keeping up with the fast and constantly changing builds. Like usual, I
reserve the end of my videos to say a massive thank you to Mary, BocaChicaGal
for her amazing work in capturing the progress. Also thank you to the NSF
team for sharing it with us. You allow us an unprecedented view into the future so
we get to witness spectacular things. That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow,
I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did, make sure to hit the like button and
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when I upload. Thanks for watching and have a great day!
