Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Most of the standard SpaceX updates today
will consist of information about upcoming
launches, with 2 Falcon 9 launches expected
to take place in a matter of days.
Then, over to Boca Chica to check out some
infrastructure updates, as well as the recent
and upcoming SN6 testing.
So let’s head straight in and get up to
date…
To begin with, I want to show you a Tweet
from somebody called Jonathan McDowell about
a retired Starlink satellite.
He said “Starlink 58 reentered between 0600
and 0720 UTC Aug 23.
It is the 7th satellite from the May 2019
prototype launch batch to reenter.”
Then, as I said, we have a couple of Falcon
9 launches over the space of less than 24
hours.
Originally scheduled for Thursday 27th, you
can see on TheSpaceXFans website, the launch
of SAOCOM-1B is now expected to lift off on
Friday 28th at 11:19pm UTC or 7:19pm EDT.
Also, we now know which booster will launch
this mission and turns out its B1059.
This booster previously launched 3 missions
and so will be launching on its 4th mission
on Friday.
So, even though SpaceX are planning to launch
SAOCOM-1B on Friday, they’ve also got another
launch on Saturday 29th at 2:30pm UTC or 10:30am
EDT.
As you can see on TheSpaceXFans website again,
they’re probably going to be launching Starlink-11
within a matter of hours after SAOCOM-1B.
Exciting launch schedule coming up for the
remaining week of this month.
Although, moving on to the Boca Chica news,
there has recently been a big divide between
people as to whether or not the Super Heavy
launch pad construction is actually a water
tower.
I’ve always thought it’s a launch mount
since the sign on the fence says so, and turns
out it categorically is a mount, according
to Elon Musk.
Nearby at Pad B, engineers are continuing
to work on preparing the new launch mount
for action.
Turns out they’ve even begun installing
some mass simulators, which could indicate
that a Starship may very soon be sitting on
it.
Elsewhere around the facility, there was an
interesting new arrival spotted on the back
of a trailer.
Over by where the Starship tanks are produced,
the new giant high bay is still progressing.
Here is the latest view of how the building
is coming along, and I believe it may just
need one more half level and a roof before
it reaches the full 81 metres in height.
Further to this, engineers have already begun
the process of constructing the second half
of the 4th level as you can see this high
bay section lifted.
As of now, they’ve already put together
2 corners of this new level and looks like
what could be the beginning of the roof.
Can’t wait until it’s complete, then we
could start seeing Super Heavy sections emerge
from tents and begin stacking, that will be
awesome.
However, before we look at Starship serial
number updates, there’s always bits of Starships
moving around the yard.
Here you can see another new stainless steel
ring being prepared to be moved.
The nosecone section we saw last episode has
some interesting metal additions added to
it.
Not sure what they’re doing but could we
see a different nosecone build in the works?
Could just be that these additional pieces
of metal help with joining the tapered sections.
Next, there is an interesting move that has
been spotted in the construction yard.
Here you can see we have SN5, which was recently
moved from the test area to the production
area and into the mid bay alongside SN8.
Now though it’s been moved back out so the
question is what’s next on the agenda for
this vehicle.
I’m thinking maybe the move could be to
do with freeing up some space so another Starship
tank can progress.
SpaceX are preparing SN5 now for its next
hop after a beautiful 150 metre hop just a
few weeks ago.
One of the parts of the process right now
is to swap out a COPV tank.
Its successor on the other hand was rolled
out after the SN5 prototype had hopped.
So, on Sunday, SpaceX began the process of
preparing for testing this SN6 tank.
Throughout most of the road closure window
on Sunday, the company had the road closed
and tried their first attempt early.
However, they had to abort the test multiple
times to presumably fix issues that came up.
Then, some hour or so before the end of the
road closure window, they started fuelling
and SN6 was seen venting once again.
Finally, just before the end of the window,
the SN6 prototype and Raptor engine SN29 roared
to life for the first time.
This is the first step in paving the way for
the upcoming 150 metre hop test coming this
week.
After the static fire, we waited as the dust
cleared to present a still standing SN6 prototype,
indicating a successful test.
Even though I showed them last episode, here
are the road and beach closures again.
You can see that SpaceX are still targeting
Friday 28th for the SN6 150 metre hop.
Really excited, we could see a Falcon 9 and
Starship launch on Friday, as well as another
Falcon 9 launch on Saturday.
So with the static fire test done and the
hop coming up very soon, engineers have been
working to prepare the pad and vehicle.
Looks like they’re doing some work with
the ground support equipment here.
Then, like we’ve seen with multiple previous
Starship test tanks, the mass simulator was
spotted having arrived on a trailer.
So, looks like SN6 just like its predecessors
will also get a little hat.
This block of steel will simulate the weight
of the nosecone, upper rings and header tanks;
I believe it weighs around 22 tons.
They’re currently still preparing for the
installation of this mass simulator, but meanwhile,
tankers have been spotted doing the usual
refuelling at the tank farm.
Anyhow, moving onto the future Starship prototypes,
here we have the upper ring stack for SN9.
It was seen sitting outside waiting to be
sleeved with the upper bulkhead for the methane
tank.
That’s the next thing to also happen, the
ring stack and dome were sleeved with one
another.
This ring stack has a lot of those TPS tile
mounting points so SN9 looks like it will
have many heat shield tiles.
With various sections as well as canards spotted,
here is the latest SN9 build diagram from
Brendan Lewis.
With SN5 out of the mid bay and SN9 action
picking up, we could soon start to see the
SN9 tank begin being born.
As always, these detailed and regular updates
would not be possible without the time and
dedication from Mary, or BocaChicaGal going
out there and filming; so thank you.
Also thank you to the rest of the NASASpaceflight
team for all their work and effort behind
the scenes, especially when they spend hours
hosting the testing livestreams.
We thank you all greatly.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow,
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