Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today we will start by looking at launches
with the SAOCOM-1B launch and Starlink-11
delay.
There’s also a bit of Boca Chica, a bunch
of information from Elon Musk, as well as
SN6 and SN7.1 testing.
So let’s head straight in and get up to
date…
On Sunday, SAOCOM-1B, along with 2 rideshare
payloads launched to space with B1059 lifting
off for the 4th time.
This was also the first polar orbit mission
from Florida since
the 60s.
This booster then came back down to perform
a beautiful, picture perfect landing at LZ-1.
Here’s another amazing video from SpaceX
of the Falcon 9 landing.
Eric Berger tweeted something interesting
saying “SpaceX required seven years to go
from its first to its 10th launch.
In seven more years SpaceX has gone from its
10th launch to its 100th.
This is what acceleration looks like.”
I can’t wait to see where we are in 7 more
years.
So, even though SAOCOM-1B launched on Sunday,
Starlink-11 was unfortunately delayed.
SpaceX has since tweeted that they’re targeting
tomorrow, September 3rd for the next Starlink
launch.
Heading to Boca Chica, whilst not much has
changed, work is progressing with the orbital
launch mount.
Over at the production area, just to the side
of the tents, they've been pouring some concrete.
Further work down on the ground has been taking
place over by the old gas well lot.
We have some interesting things that look
to me to be pipes sticking out of the ground.
The roll lift has seen some action recently
as it prepares to move another Starship test
tank.
It’s likely preparing to roll the SN7.1
prototype down the road, but more on that
in a little bit.
There’s also the high bay for Super Heavy
which is almost complete with the final level
put together.
Just need to finish the walls, add a roof
and then they should be pretty much ready
for action and Super Heavy might grow quickly.
So, on Monday, there was a Humans to Mars
summit where Elon Musk dialled in from Germany
to answer some questions.
One of the things Musk said was “We're making
good progress.
The thing that really impedes progress on
Starship is the production system ... A year
ago was nothing there and now we've got quite
a lot of production capability.
So we're rapidly making more and more ships.”
He also talked about Super Heavy and its Raptor
engines.
He said they will probably change the amount
of engines the booster has again; “SpaceX
is trying to simplify the configuration of
Starship's Super Heavy booster, so the engine
configuration might end up being 28 instead
of 31 engines.”
In terms of Super Heavy, somebody tweeted
about the thrust to weight ratio of an engine.
Musk responded to say “The outer ring of
booster engines (20 of 28) have no TVC actuators.
Steering control comes from center 8 TVC & differential
throttle of outer engines.
By any measure, the high thrust variant of
Raptor will probably have the highest T/W
of any engine ever.”
Also, Musk mentioned during the interview
when Super Heavy construction would begin.
He said they would be starting on the first
prototype booster this week.
I absolutely can’t wait to see the first
Super Heavy booster.
This brings me onto my next points where we
will take a look at some bits and pieces spotted
here and there.
First up, there was the arrival of these new
aerosurface covers that were seen on the back
of a trailer.
There’s also a whole load of stainless steel
rings that have been seen lined up outside.
I’m thinking and really hoping that these
could be the first pieces of Super Heavy we’re
seeing.
Also, as of lately a whole load of forklifts
have been carrying new rolls of stainless
steel into the construction yard.
Anyhow, moving onto Starships starting with
SN6, you will know that they were targeting
Sunday and began preparing for a test.
Unfortunately the first attempt had to be
aborted and vehicles were seen heading to
the pad.
However, around an hour or so later, the pad
was once again cleared and SpaceX began fuelling
the prototype.
Again though, the SN6 hop test on Sunday was
aborted once more and delayed by a few days.
This brings us to now where we have more road
and beach closures scheduled.
You can see there is a primary date of tomorrow,
September 3rd for the hop with backup dates
of Friday and Saturday.
So, hopefully this tank will hop this week.
Being worked on a lot recently, we have SN7.1
and here you can see the upper dome was spotted
attached to a crane.
It was then moved out of the fabrication tent
and lifted to be joined with the rest of the
tank section.
Now, engineers are working in and around the
test tank to get it fully welded and prepared
for testing which should be happening very
soon.
In the last road closures image for SN6 you
would have seen more testing dates.
SN7.1 is expected to be rolled out to Pad
B soon and placed on top for some pressure
testing.
Right now, there is a primary closure date
of Sunday, September 6th, with backup dates
of Monday and Tuesday.
This will be another bopper to test the new
304L stainless steel along with the new thrust
puck I believe.
I have to say an enormous thank you to Mary,
or BocaChicaGal for her time and effort going
out there to film this awesome footage.
Also, an enormous thank you to the whole of
the NASASpaceflight team who do an incredible
job bringing us fantastic space coverage.
These detailed and frequent updates would
not be possible with you.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow,
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