Starbase Sunday #6

13 Jul

Written By Magnum

Welcome to the 6th edition of Starbase Sunday! I’m sorry I had to delay it a few hours, but at least now it’s here, ready to bring you information about what happened at Starbase (and McGregor!) this week!

July 6th - Sunday

Let’s start at the production site, where groundwork is continuing to lay Gigabay’s foundations, with excavators and other vehicles in full swing!

Early in the morning, a Ship QD interface surprisingly came out of Megabay 2, and was put on a transport vehicle; this interface will be used to connect the hoses of Pad A’s OLM to the Ship QD on Ship 37, to allow a static fire on the OLM.

Going out to the launch pads, both received attention during the day:

More cladding was installed on Pad B’s tower, consisting of metal sheets placed over the tower modules. Cladding is taking experience from Pad A, and from the looks of it, it already seems far more resistant and more strategically positioned.

At Pad A, RGV confirmed that all hold down clamps have been removed from the OLM, confirming (unlike what was previously thought until yesterday) that the Ship stand will stand on the hold down clamps site after all. This means the RQDs will stand below the Ship engines, making them susceptible to damage from the static fire, meaning that modifications to protect them will have to take place.

July 7th - Monday

Today was an exciting day, because a massive piece of equipment rolled from the Starfactory to Megabay 1 at the production site! This was later confirmed by SpaceX itself to be the redesigned fuel transfer tube for Super Heavy Block 3, the first of which (Booster 18) is currently under construction in MB1, and it is allegedly 23 rings tall (roughly 41.4 m):

This transfer tube is made up of 52 ring sections separated by a circumferential support ring and welds; the ring sections don’t seem to have the same dimensions, as the aft section has higher rings, which decrease in height as they go up the transfer tube. Starting on the 17th ring starting from the bottom, there is a circumferential weld of vertical welds at the half of the ring section going all the way around the tube, which presents itself every 3 rings (half ring + 2 rings + half ring, it may be some sort of support); a single vertical weld line of “fingers” is found vertically every 3 rings (half ring + 2 rings + half ring) starting from the very bottom, and connecting every other couple of the vertical welds resembling stringers (connects a couple, leaves a couple, connects a couple, leaves a couple). At the tip of the transfer tube, at the top 2 ring sections, there are 2 sets of circumferential pipe-resembling supports. The top of the transfer tube might have some hardware, but this is unknown because a tarp was used for covering it, and offering lifting points.

But what is its purpose? This transfer tube has 2 purposes: the first is as a fuel transfer tube, which is its very name, allowing methane to travel from the methane tank to the Raptor 3 engines, through the main LOX tank. The other purpose it serves is LOX header tank, where most of this tube is filled with LOX (CH4 travels through a smaller pipe in the middle) and is fed to the Raptor engines during landing burn (and possibly, also during boostback for the Block 3 version); this is done since propellant sloshes in the main tank (especially during boostback), making it more difficult for the engines to ignite.

We know thanks to SpaceX that the transfer tube is “roughly the same size as the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket), which is 41.2 m, making it fit perfectly into the Super Heavy booster.

Now going to the launch site, the pump farm saw some activity with a pump and a motor delivered, awaiting installation.

Later, at Pad B, the chopsticks were lowered to the base of the tower, likely making way for more cladding higher up the tower.

July 8th - Tuesday

At Pad B, the LOX BQD hood backplate was lifted into place, “closing off” the LOX BQD hood system.

At the pump farm, the pump that was delivered yesterday was lifted and installed in the early morning.

At the production site, a new work stand looks to be under construction in Megabay 2, with the lifting of 6 legs by a crane.

Meanwhile, the first 6 of hundreds of CFA piles were drilled! This process involves a Malcom CFA (Continuous Flight Auger) drill, which drills a hole into the ground and fills it up with concrete as the pile is pulled out; finally, another crane follows installing rebar cages for support.

July 9th - Wednesday

At the pump farm, the motor for the pump was lifted and installed. This completes another, possibly the final of 8 CH4 pumps installed for Pad B; these electric pumps are spun to thousands of RPMs to increase the pressure of fluids.

At the production site, several CFA piles were installed during the day, making another step forward Gigabay’s completion, although we are still far from it being operational. The next step is completing the hundreds of drills needed to set the foundation, an operation that might take a few weeks.

In the evening, exciting news! 1 RVac and 1 sea-level Raptor engine have been spotted entering Megabay 2, meaning engine installation on Ship 37 is finally underway!

July 10th - Thursday

Early in the night at the production site, another Raptor sea-level engine was spotted going in front of MB2, but it was then transported back out and stored at Sanchez.

However, in the morning a Raptor SL entered MB2, meaning Ship 37 has 3 out of 6 engines available, including 1 RVac and 2 Raptors SL.

In the evening, another RVac was spotted going inside MB2!

All day long, CFA kept drilling like crazy, and cranes followed to install rebar cages.

At Massey’s, an A-frame for an LR 1300 crane was lifted into position, suggesting an LR 1300 is about to come online for Massey’s refurbishment.

July 11th - Friday

At the production site, another RVac was spotted entering into Megabay 2; even if only 5 of the 6 engines were spotted, it’s likely that all 6 are inside MB2 or already installed on Ship 37.

At Pad A, workers added frameworks to support the Ship QD hoses on the OLM, since the Booster ones couldn’t reach the Ship QD.

At Massey’s, the LR 1300 crane had risen less than 10 hours after its parts had arrived, ready for work; this likely means that teams are finished or almost finished with debris cleanup, a week shy of a month from Ship 36’s explosion. This crane was spotted inspecting and moving around the CH4 tank farm and the pump area.

July 12th - Saturday

At Pad A, piping was installed near the framework that was added yesterday; these are pipes that will redirect the propellants from the BQD to the SQD, using the framework for support. Additionally, the GSE (Ground System Equipment) was tested during the day, likely verifying that some changes are effectively working.

Nearby, at Pad B, the LOX BQD hood top cover was lifted and installed into place, marking another step toward the system’s completion. As a reminder, Pad B will feature 2 different QDs, one for LOX (this one under construction) and another one for CH4 (still to be built).

At Massey’s, the newly-arrived (actually, more like newly-assembled) LR 1300 crane started working on refurbishment of the Massey’s test site, removing 2 of the 5 vertical CH4 tanks in the CH4 tank farm.

Raptor testing

Unfortunately, due to a busy week, I was only able to cover July 6, July 9’s and 10’s tests. I hope you can enjoy them nonetheless, and I will try to cover them all days of the week.

July 6th

There were no tests conducted today.

July 9th

- Raptor vertical - 09:05:47 - 126s / 2m6s

- Raptor vertical - 10:06:57 - 20s

- Raptor vertical - 16:34:00 - 131s / 2m11s

Total tests: 3

Total fire time: 277s / 4m37s

-Raptor vertical: 277s / 4m37s - 3 tests

July 10th

- Raptor vertical - 09:21:59 - 131s / 2m11s

- Raptor vertical - 11:32:54 - 174s / 2m54s