Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we will begin by looking
at a few SpaceX updates, then we’ll have
a look at various things in Boca Chica.
Plus we have bits and pieces of Starships,
a little SN5, SN6 and SN7 with some upcoming
testing.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
To begin with, there is a new article from
rideshare and mission management company Spaceflight.
It mentions how the company has signed an
agreement with SpaceX for future rideshare
missions.
Apparently the agreement will help as it “secures
Spaceflight capacity to launch manifest payloads
on several SpaceX launches through the end
of 2021.”
The article also says the agreement will help
with “providing launch schedule assurance
to smallsat customers needing frequent, reliable,
and cost-effective launches to Sun-synchronous
orbit.”
SpaceX responded to a Tweet from Spaceflight
about booking a ride on one of their SpaceX
rideshare missions.
SpaceX said “More than 100 spacecraft have
been signed up to fly on Falcon 9 since we
launched the rideshare program.”
In a previous video, we took a brief look
at a Tweet about a change to the commercial
crew program.
So we already knew that SpaceX had been granted
permission to reuse Dragon and Falcon 9 vehicles.
However, a new article from SpaceNews has
more information.
Apparently Boeing had previously been allowed
to refurbish and reuse their Starliner capsule.
Whilst NASA hinted last year at SpaceX also
being able to do this, it’s only just been
added as a modification.
Also, apparently the reuses could begin as
soon as next year.
There is a new Tweet from Michael Baylor about
something the former NASA spaceflight chief
said.
Kathy Leuders apparently said “The Crew
Dragon has been doing great.
Every week it wakes up and we do checkouts,
and then it goes back into sleep mode.
The crew on orbit have also been putting it
through its paces.
About to do a demonstration with four crew
members in the vehicle at once.”
Apparently a Gulfstream jet is scheduled for
a “DM-2 Direct Return Mission” in August
to return the Demo-2 crew to Houston.
So looks like NASA are planning for a return
of Bob and Doug around August 15th to August
17th.
The Tweet from Thomas Burghardt says “Dragon
Endeavour’s splashdown off the coast of
Florida should then occur on or just before
those dates.”
Along with Chris Gebhardt’s Tweet which
says “A landing of Endeavor in this range
would place the first "regular" Crew-1 long-duration
mission of Commercial Crew at NET mid-September
2020.”
With the SpaceX updates covered, we will now
head over to Boca Chica.
As usual, there has been all sorts of activity
recently, starting with a new pet that SpaceX
has got.
As you saw last episode, there is a new dog
house for Zeus, and as people commented on
my last video, Zeus is not a conventional
dog.
Instead he is a Boston Dynamics Spot robot,
and my guess would be that he will be used
for inspecting vehicles.
On the Boston Dynamics website it says “Spot
has an industry track record in remote operation
and autonomous sensing.”
In the last video, we also saw a new structure
being built over near the fuel farm.
As you can see here, workers are progressing
with it, but still not sure what it might
be.
Also, over at the Starship / Super Heavy launch
pad, further work has been happening with
the foundations.
I know barely anything about construction,
but believe they’re pouring concrete here.
In my last video, we also saw some components
for a new big crane had arrived.
Here you can see that workers have begun to
construct this new vehicle.
Apparently this crane is a Manitowoc 18000
and can hold a load of around 600 tons.
After some reading, it’s reach capabilities
vary from 36.5 metres up to 185 metres depending
on how the crane is rigged.
So I believe this could potentially lift Starship
high enough to stack with Super Heavy so this
thing will be massive.
Something this could be used for soon is the
Super Heavy high bay, or lifting Starship
onto the launch stand.
Also I want to show you a view which has been
very common in my recent videos, the next
test stand.
Something interesting to note is how much
more complex this looks compared with the
old one.
Most notably, I don’t think there’s ever
been railings at the top of the stand.
Next, we have a little bit of Raptor testing
information from Elon Musk.
Somebody called Raegen who lives close enough
to hear engine tests in McGregor tweeted about
a recent Raptor test.
She asked “What levels are they now reaching?
And what are you working towards?”
With Musk responding to say “Reaching chamber
pressure of 300 atmospheres.”
Now we’ll take a look at some Starship pieces
spotted here and there.
First up as you can see, we have Cory’s
taco dome, the interesting section that will
never see flight.
I don’t know what exactly it’s for but
it’s been moved outside again.
Also at another angle, you can see that a
doorway has been cut out of the side.
Inside the tent in the background you can
see there is a little Starship section.
Last episode we saw a Tweet where Musk mentioned
another SN7 test tank will follow shortly.
This could be a part of that, but could also
be for the next Starship SN version.
Not sure if there will be a full size SN7
tank or if we might see SN8 after SN5 and
6.
You can also see that another new section
was spotted in another tent.
You can see the name “Juan” on the top
ring for the stack, no idea who that is of
course, but that’s the name I’m giving
to this section.
Also, the “Juan” ring stack was recently
moved outside the tent and into the yard.
I’m guessing soon we could see a new vehicle
using this stack, maybe the SN7 test tank?
At some point in a previous video, we saw
a new section that sort of looked like a bulkhead
or nose cone piece.
It has been spotted again and is definitely
not a nose cone section, and is apparently
a new thrust puck.
Definitely quite a bit different to what we
have seen so far.
The only SN5 and SN6 to really show this episode
is this amazing view.
Both of the vehicles were spotted sharing
the high bay together.
On the left you’ve got SN6 and on the right
you’ve got SN5, and wow seeing this sight
is so cool.
Before we see some dates for upcoming testing,
let’s take a bit of a look at the SN7 test
tank.
As you will know, SpaceX recently tested the
new 304L stainless steel in a pressure test
of the SN7 bopper.
You can see here that engineers have been
working on it to prepare it for further testing.
They’ve been seen lifting and installing
a new vent system for the top of the vehicle.
As you can see here this has two vents, not
sure why, but they’re going to be testing
this tank again soon.
I’m going to guess they’re going to try
and reach a higher pressure than the 7.6 bar
it reached the other day.
Not sure if this still means that there will
be a second test tank to follow, but we’ll
just have to wait and see.
However, for now, there are some road and
beach closures from Cameron County for testing.
With nothing happening on June 19th, the next
testing dates are Monday June 22nd and Wednesday
June 23rd.
You can see an image Tweeted by Michael Baylor
with testing dates.
The primary closure is June 24th with backup
dates of June 25th and June 26th.
It says these dates are for SN5 proof testing.
So in the next few days, we could see another
SN7 test, as well as SN5 roll out.
Then over the next week there might be a whole
bunch of testing taking place.
Very exciting stuff is happening right now
and I can’t wait.
Now we’ve reached the part of the video
where I thank Mary, BocaChicaGal for her time
and effort documenting history.
Also thank you to the rest of the NASASpaceflight
team for their incredible work sharing these
awesome insights.
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!
