Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we don’t have many Starship
updates, but we will begin by looking at some
Starlink stuff.
Then we have various bits happening in Boca
Chica including SN7 testing and updates on
further testing dates.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
As I said, we are starting today with Starlink,
and as you can see on TheSpaceXFans website,
there is a launch happening soon.
Starlink-9 was originally going to launch
on Tuesday, but should now lift off on Thursday
25th at 8:39pm UTC or 4:39pm EDT.
The booster B1051 should launch for the fifth
time to deliver the tenth batch of Starlink
satellites into orbit.
Hopefully, it will then become the second
booster to land for the fifth time.
Also on Starlink, some shots of the user terminals
have been captured.
Otherwise known as UFOs on a stick, these
little terminals will be used for connecting
with the satellites.
Mary captured these great shots from her backyard
and it seems like SpaceX is doing a lot of
testing which makes sense since I believe
their beta testing program will start soon.
Not too many SpaceX updates so now let’s
see the action over in Boca Chica.
Starting with a recent drive-by of the whole
SpaceX facility, here you can see the latest
view of the Starship / Super Heavy launch
pad construction.
Just behind the fence, you can see what I
started to think could be pipes.
Although on second glance, I think they could
be some sort of beams for the structure they’re
building.
Last episode we saw this new rebar structure
being put together.
This rebar tube was spotted being oriented
into the upright position to be placed into
the foundations.
I’m very excited to see what it is they’re
building here as I have some guesses and it’s
likely going to be one absolutely colossal
building.
Workers have also been spotted lowering this
giant rebar tube down into the hole recently
dug by the auger.
Hopefully soon we might start to see what
this could potentially be.
Next up we have the launch stand which has
had some new additions.
You can see now that the railings which have
been added are now pretty much complete.
Still no SN5 sitting on top of it yet though,
but as you will find out soon that’s going
to change shortly.
The NSF team highlighted the new structure
we were seeing near the fuel farm.
Retaining wall foundation is apparently what
it is, and will prevent erosion.
The enormous new Manitowoc crane has also
had further work to put it together.
It’s beginning to grow but there are a whole
bunch more components to be attached I believe.
An interesting change that has been spotted
is the Methane flare stack.
They had recently removed it I believe and
were planning to use a different method of
dealing with the excess propellant.
Musk previously tweeted in May about recondensing
using solar power as opposed to burning it
off.
However, as you can see here they have since
reinstated the flare stack.
Something else that was spotted was a shipping
container with a blue sign on it under Starhopper.
The sign says “future home of SpaceX launch
control centre.”
So we already know what they’re planning
to build here and will be interesting to see
when they properly begin constructing it.
There are lots of infrastructure and very
little Starship updates at the moment.
Just a little thing to add is something I
could only dream of being able to do.
Here you can see SpaceXers enjoying their
lunch under the shade of the giant Starhopper
vehicle.
Whilst not very much, we do have a little
bit of Starship stuff today.
Here you can see a nose cone with thrusters
sitting in one of the onion tents and I believe
this is one of the newer noses.
A few days ago, Austin Barnard tweeted a picture
of SN7 after it was prepared for the next
round of testing.
Musk responded to the Tweet with “all patched
up”.
Then yesterday, SpaceX used one of their backup
dates to begin testing the little tank…
As expected they did another test to failure,
except this time it seemed like a hop.
The pop which appears to have been caused
by the bottom dome sent the whole tank and
its stand flying.
Here’s a great view of the aftermath of
the test and wow did SN7 get wrecked.
Unfortunately Elon Musk has yet to give us
any information about the test or what sort
of pressure it reached.
Hopefully this time they exceeded the 8 bar
mark.
The next lot of testing coming over the next
few weeks should be SN5 including potentially
a hop soon.
Now we have some information on the further
testing dates.
In this document it says that the road will
be closed for an hour today between 6am and
7am CST.
There have been a bunch of date changes recently
but right now, we have today June 24th for
rollout.
Then it looks like testing will begin on Monday
June 29th, with dates up to July 1st.
The final thing I will show you is a new FAA
filing for flight restrictions.
As you can see SpaceX have requested this
so they can probably perform the 150 metre
hop.
The document has dates for the restriction
of between Wednesday June 24th and Wednesday
July 8th.
Not the longest video today, but some very
exciting updates on testing.
As always, I want to say a massive thank you
to Mary, BocaChicaGal, who spends whole days
outside filming history for us fans.
Also the NASASpaceFlight team does some amazing
work with the livestreams and all other space
coverage so huge thanks to them as well.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow,
I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!
