Starbase Sunday #12
Welcome to the 12th edition of Starbase Sunday, our weekly article series where you can be informed about the progress at Starbase and McGregor.
August 17th - Sunday - T-7 days
Let’s begin our day at the production site, where a Raptor Vacuum was spotted going through the yard and into the starfactory. After a few minutes, it was rolled into Megabay 2: this is the 3rd Raptor engine delivered for Ship 38, which now has 2 RVacs and 1 sea-level engine.
Also there at the production site, but in the rocket garden, crews were lifted on Booster 16 to work on the FTS (Flight Termination System) covers: it’s likely that the explosives (used to terminate the flight in case something goes wrong) were already installed in Megabay 1, and crews were just connecting wires and checking everything was nominal before rolling it out for launch.
August 18th - Monday - T-6 days
Today, an interesting road delay appeared on the Starbase City website, stating “pump testing” between 14:00 and 16:00.
This pump testing referred to the pumps for Pad B, especially the oxygen ones today, and it lasted several hours in the afternoon. This testing is part of a bigger testing campaign to test and validate each system and subsystem of the new tank farm, readying it ahead of the pad coming online.
At the production site, 2 Raptors were spotted on display in SpaceX’s HQ: they are a Raptor 1 (R59 from BN3) and a Raptor 2 (R352 from B12) positioned one near the other, and they may be part of the aforementioned technical presentation Elon Musk would give before the launch of Flight 10.
August 19th - Tuesday - T-5 days
2 more road delays popped up today on the Starbase City website: the first one was from 16:00 to 20:00 today for additional pump testing at Pad B, while the other one was a road delay for Booster 16’s transport to the launch site, between 12:00 and 04:00 am of August 21st! Another delay indicated “ringwall transport” during the same window, but it likely refers to the booster transport stand carrying the vehicle. So yeah, we got a rollout!
At Pad B, there was much more venting than yesterday, indicating more pump testing. Pumps were seemingly tested, and everything went nominally, with no additional road delay scheduled: it looks like SpaceX got the data they wanted, and they’ll now analyze them and make them better ahead of future testing.
Additionally, a new water tank arrived at the pad, ready for installation into the new deluge tank farm.
And to close it all, teams tested the deluge gas generators once again. These are literally gas generators from Raptor engines to push the immense amount of water to the deluge plates.
Finally, they tested the GSE bunker for the first time, and the venting was just immense. Once this tank farm works together, there will probably be more venting than you might imagine.
At nearby Pad A, work is continuing to reconfigure the OLM for launches. All the items for Ship testing, including Starstool, beams on the clamp arms, pipes, and the framework have been removed from the launch mount, while clamps were reinstalled. Now, the major item is welding shut all the holes on the back of the BQD hood, and ensuring that the pipes are directed nominally towards the BQD.
Teams also performed an open/close test of the BQD door, ensuring it is working as intended.
At the production site, scrapping of SN2 has started to take place, with it being cut in half. This test tank underwent a cryo test in 2020 to validate new design changes to the thrust section, and had been sitting at the rocket garden ever since.
August 20th - Wednesday - T-4 days
At Pad B, the water tank delivered yesterday was set into position today, awaiting installation.
At Pad A, more work was conducted on the OLM and BQD, including a test of the door opening and the lines extending out for connection.
Today, the Cameron County website posted road closures for flight-activities on August 24th, with backups to the 25th and 26th.
Finally, at the production site, Booster 16 got on the move late in the day, and was parked in front of the Highway 4 entrance, waiting the rollout delay.
August 21st - Thursday - T-3 days - Booster rollout
As soon as the clock hit midnight and the road delay entered into place, Booster 16 began rolling down the highway towards the launch site. Once there, at Pad A, it was parked in between the chopsticks, and it was lifted onto the OLM in the morning.
After the lift, teams kept working on the OLM, where much work is still needed ahead of a launch attempt on Sunday.
At the production site, work for the Gigabay foundations is in full swing.
August 22nd - Friday - T-2 days
At Pad A, work continued on the OLM, where scaffolding was removed ahead of launch. Nearby, at the other pad, the LR11k crane was laid down to protect it from launch.
At the production site, there was quite some interesting activity, as the Ship was put on the transport stand in Megabay 2. After that, preparations began for payload loading.
August 23rd - Saturday - T-1 day
At the production site, all 8 simlinks were loaded into the payload bay. After that, the Ship rolled out of Megabay 2, and started rolling towards Pad A in the early afternoon, reaching it in about an hour.
Later that day, chopsticks hugged the Ship and lifted it above the Booster, completing the full stack ahead of flight!
References
Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) / X
Starbase Live: 24/7 Starship & Super Heavy Development From SpaceX's Boca Chica Facility
McGregor Live: 24/7 SpaceX Engine Testing & Development for Starship and Falcon 9 Rockets
