Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX. Today’s
video will commence by talking about upcoming
launches and other standard SpaceX information.
Then, as per usual, it’s over to Boca Chica
to see what’s been happening, plus Starship,
including SN6 testing as soon as today, SN8
and even SN9. This will probably be my longest
video to date with some incredibly exciting
news, so let’s head straight in and get
up to date… You will all know that recently
Starlink-9 launched after many a delay, and
soon Starlink-10 should also launch. As you
can see on TheSpaceXFans website, sharing
the fairing will be SkySat 19-21 and the mission
is expected to launch on Tuesday, August 18th
at 2:31pm UTC or 10:31am EDT. If you thought
that SpaceX hadn’t broken enough records
recently, they’re set to break yet another.
The booster expected to assist with the Starlink-10
mission is B1049. B1049 became the first booster
to successfully land 5 times and so on Tuesday
will lift off for the 6th time. Then it should
become the first orbital class rocket booster
to land propulsively from space 6 times. Next,
we have some information to do with the next
launch of astronauts on Crew Dragon. Crew-1
is the mission which will launch later this
year carrying 3 NASA and 1 JAXA astronaut
to the ISS. Jim Bridenstine tweeted “NASA
and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Oct.
23 for Crew Dragon’s first operational mission
to the space station with the men and women
of Crew-1, pending certification following
a successful Demo-2 test flight.” I cannot
wait until we get to see 4 astronauts launching
in the same Dragon capsule. Final piece of
standard SpaceX news revolves around the recent
funding round SpaceX have been seeking. Previously
they were looking to raise around $1 billion
in funding from private investors. However,
apparently, due to high demand for the shares
which are selling at $270 each, SpaceX have
increased the funding round to $2 billion.
So, with the company looking to raise this
money to most likely help with Starship, let’s
see what’s progressed. Starting off the
Boca Chica updates, they’re progressing
at quite a pace now as they work to get this
structure at the Super Heavy launch pad area
built. You can see here another view of the
latest work that's been going on by the Super
Heavy launch pad. Something I want to point
out is that just on the right of this view,
you can see some new tubes that have arrived.
Based on the diameter looking similar to that
of the rebar structures, I’m guessing that’s
the intention for these. Also another one
of these tubes was spotted arriving recently
and heading over to the launch pad construction
area. Moving on from the Super Heavy launch
pad information, we have some work spotted
not too far from the test mount. What you
see here is the Raptor installation stand
which helps with obviously installing the
Raptor engines. I’m hoping soon, we might
see this put back underneath the test mount.
We recently saw some new work being done to
drive piles into the ground, which I presume
is for foundational work for another structure.
However, this drilling machine was seen being
packed up and moved out of the facility, it
will be interesting to see what happens next
here. As always, there’s all sorts happening
over by the production part of the facility,
and you can see they’re still doing groundwork
just outside. As with all of the stuff SpaceX
are building, there’s no waiting around,
so here’s a view of the very bottom of the
high bay which is pretty much complete. Then
of course, most recently SpaceX have been
working to construct the third level of the
building. This is also progressing well and
probably won’t be long before it’s also
complete. As expected, they’ve also progressed
further with levelling up the high bay as
they begin to work on level 4. Interestingly
these fourth level panels look smaller and
appear to be about half the height of the
panels used below. Could this indicate that
level 4 is the final level before they can
start adding the roof, possibly. As of now,
they’ve already put together one of the
corners for the new level. I reckon within
the next month or 2, this high bay will be
ready and we might start seeing Super Heavy
sections emerge and get stacked. With those
Boca Chica updates covered, let’s now see
what’s been happening with Starships as
well as exciting SN6 testing. To start with
there is an interesting section spotted outside
with 3 holes cut out of it. I’m expecting
this is probably a test barrel section and
could be scrapped, but we’ll have to wait
and see. You all know SpaceX have a pretty
large collection of nosecones at the moment
and we have something interesting added to
one of them. Not sure what this white stuff
covering the nose is, but could it potentially
be to help with polishing the section? I also
want to show you the latest view of the whole
collection of noses because it’s always
awesome to see so many. Just going to throw
in another exciting new arrival, here we have
some new fins and canards. We previously saw
more of these arrive presumably for SN8, so
I want to guess that these are possibly for
SN9. Moving on, we recently saw SN5 moved
back to the construction area for further
work. It’s currently hanging out in the
mid bay whilst engineers look at and inspect
the vehicle, as well as probably prep it for
its next testing round. Alongside it is obviously
SN8, which at the moment is still just part
of the LOX tank. As SN5 was rolled back, SN6
was rolled out to be the next tank to hopefully
make some history. I’m going to show you
a little preview of how SpaceX prepares to
lift these Starship tanks onto the test mount.
Firstly though, prior to SN6’s arrival at
the launch area, engineers had been working
on the test mount. Like pretty much every
test tank prior, they reinstalled the hydraulic
rams. These things push on the thrust puck
to simulate the amount of thrust that would
be exerted by 3 Raptor engines. It’s a very
important step in the process of proof testing
a prototype at this stage. Then, up next was
to unbolt the SN6 vehicle from the transport
mount which it was sitting on. After being
released from the mount, the tank was lifted
to be placed down on the ground for some tests.
It was placed back down onto these little
pipe shaped stands to allow for the testing
to begin. One of the things that was worked
on were the landing legs. You can see here
that engineers were seen retracting the legs.
Here’s a closer look at that testing and
I think it’s really cool to see them already
preparing the vehicle for a hop. Also, it
gives a great sense of scale. After the preparations
had come to an end they began lifting SN6
onto the mount with engineers keeping it stable
from below. Meanwhile, there were a whole
bunch of SpaceXers waiting on boom lifts to
help precisely position the tank. With it
now sitting on the test mount waiting for
its upcoming series of tests, engineers are
preparing and integrating it. Whilst the many
SN5 delays and aborted tests were quite frustrating,
it’s probably a very good thing. I’m sure
that they’ve managed to gather loads of
data and learnt how to avoid so many problems
in the future. With that in mind, let’s
now talk about what to expect with testing,
and here you can see the road and beach closures.
There is currently a primary date of today,
with backup dates of Monday and Tuesday. So,
according to this document from Cameron County,
today we could see an SN6 cryo proof test.
Assuming everything goes to plan, I’m thinking
a week or 2 and this amazing machine could
fly. For the final part of the video we will
take a look at SN8 sections and SN9 sections,
yes SN9 already. First up, on the right here
you can see the thrust section of the SN8
prototype. Then, on the left is the common
dome for SN9, which separates the Methane
from the LOX, has also been spotted outside.
As you can see the SN8 section was hooked
up to the flipping mechanism. That’s exactly
what happened as well, this engine section
was flipped so it could be moved over to and
stacked with the rest of the tank. Obviously
as part of the process of moving this section,
it had to be placed onto a transport mount.
Before we take a look at SN9 and how much
that’s already progressed, I will quickly
show you the latest diagram from Brendan Lewis.
With the SN8 thrust section flipped, here’s
the latest view of how the tank is progressing.
Somebody recently tweeted a video of Starship
with 3 Raptors and asked Musk “What do you
think, SN6 or SN8?”, The response was “SN8”.
So, moving onto SN9 which has only just been
spotted but is already going through the process
of construction. Obviously you just saw the
common bulkhead, but here is a view of the
ring stack to be sleeved with the dome. Something
crazy that happened over the last couple of
days is that SN9 has already started sleeving.
You can see here that the ring stack for the
common bulkhead was sleeved with the bulkhead
itself. So right here you can see the beginning
of Starship SN9. Finally, whilst not too much
has been done, will show you the SN9 build
diagram from Brendan as well. Obviously as
I said, it’s just one section so far, but
I’m sure in the coming videos, this might
change quite rapidly. As always, I have to
thank Mary, otherwise known as BocaChicaGal
greatly for spending hours filming this incredible
footage. If SN6 is going to start testing
today, NSF will surely be streaming it, and
usually go live when testing looks possible.
After this video, make sure to check if there
is a livestream from them and watch it as
it’s always fantastic. So a huge thanks
to the whole NASASpaceFlight team for their
coverage, dedication and time. That’s it
for this episode of TheSpaceXShow, I hope
you enjoyed the video, if you did, make sure
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!
