Starbase Sunday #10
Welcome to the 10th edition of our Starbase Sunday series! This milestone marks 10 weeks of observing Starship progress together, and here’s to many more tens of weeks!
This week was not nearly as action-packed as the previous one, as we got some more unexpected news for the next launch. It may not be what we hoped for, but it’s for the best of the program… let’s go!
August 3rd - Sunday
Let’s begin talking about Ship 37, which got rolled from Pad A to the production site, where Ship 38 had also been lifted off the central stand to make way for the incoming vehicle.
After being rolled and lifted inside Megabay 2, the door was closed, behind which the Ship will be prepared for flight operations, including completion of the work on the heatshield, installation of structural catch points, and overall inspections of the systems.
Out there at Pad A, workers didn’t waste any time and immediately started working on converting the OLM back to launch configuration: they removed some flexible hoses and some hardware on the framework, and they lifted off Starstool in the afternoon, placing it adjacent to the launch mount.
August 4th - Monday
At Pad A, reconfiguration of the OLM is in full swing! Starstool was rolled to the Sanchez site for storage early that night, and teams at the pad began reinstalling the hold-down clamps… they installed 15 of them, and the chopsticks were lowered to the base of the tower before work apparently came to a halt in the early afternoon.
Just a few hours later, all the 15 clamps were removed again from the OLM, making us worried that something might be off on Ship 37.
Since Ship 38 is not nearly as ready to be static fire tested, the only reason for this was that a problem had been found on Ship 37, requiring more testing.
At the production site, a Booster Transport Stand got rolled from Sanchez and parked beside MB1, confusing us even more since it looked like the OLM was preparing to receive the Ship once again… what’s going on?
Some regulatory news came out today, with the FAA releasing the Draft Environmental Assessment for Starship operations at LC-39A! The license would allow for 44 launches a year and the obvious 88 landings per year, but if you want to learn more, check out our dedicated article by Logan!
August 5th - Tuesday
Today we got some more unfortunate clarity: while Starstool rolled back to the pad to be installed onto the OLM, we saw an engine swap at the production site, with an RVac entering MB2 and another one exiting it, suggesting an RVac experienced a problem and was replaced, needing additional testing.
This is not the first time that it has happened: in fact, S37 is the 3rd Ship in the 30s series to have an RVac swapped out after a static fire and the 4th event overall (it happened 2 times with S30, 1 time with S35, and now 1 with S37), so it looks like SpaceX might have some issue successfully testing RVacs integrated on Ships. However, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.
In the afternoon, the BTS (Booster Transport Stand) was rolled into MB1, suggesting an imminent vehicle rollout, although debates arose about its target location, since the launch site was in no condition to house a Booster.
In fact, it was just an hour later that Starstool got lifted on Pad A’s OLM, with workers ensuring it was safely connected on the launch mount. After that work was completed, teams started connecting the umbilical pipes, and the first 2 were successfully installed today.
Since the occasion came, take the opportunity to check our our dedicated article, by me and Raptor, about the OLM modifications and how SpaceX managed to achieve what was thought impossible: a Ship static fire on the OLM.
At the launch site, Stargazer spotted a label indicating the construction of a “Megabunker” at the D2 entrance to the launch site… we still don’t know what this bunker may be for.
August 6th - Wednesday
Work continued at Pad A, where a 3rd umbilical pipe was connected (albeit with some issues) to the BQD/SQD system… however, after a couple of attempts at fitting, it was secured in place.
At the production site, an interesting booster shuffle occurred: in the morning, we got confirmation that it was Booster 16 that had been lifted onto the BTS, since it rolled outside MB1 and at the Rocket Garden, joining, among the largest vehicles, Boosters 12 and 17, and Ship 20… but not for long: in the afternoon, Booster 12’s grid fins were manually tilted, an operation that is done to allow the entering into the Megabays… but Booster 12 has been out in the elements in the Rocket Garden for over 7 months, so why move it?
Whatever the reason was, we saw Booster 12 enter Megabay 1… we all feared, some more and some less, that it would end up being scrapped, but it looks like SpaceX is only installing old engines onto it and preparing it for display.
August 7th - Thursday
At the production site, we saw Booster 12 being lifted onto some work stands, and its transport stand rolled out of MB1 in the afternoon… like I’ve said, though, the most likely outcome is that she’s getting some old engines ahead of displaying.
Also, we got some launch news today! The launch of Starship Flight 10, previously scheduled for NET August 16th, has been moved to a NET August 22nd date, likely following the issue found on Ship 37.
August 8th - Friday
Let’s start at Pad B, where the ninth and final LOX pump was installed for the new tank farm: this pump will be responsible for bringing oxygen to high pressure and will work alongside 8 CH4 pumps (of which 7 have already been installed). The motor for the final LOX pump should come soon.
Going to the ASU plant, the CFA drill that was previously working at the production site for Gigabay’s foundations has relocated here after wrapping up operations. The ASU (Air Separation Unit) will be needed to take oxygen and nitrogen from our atmosphere to use them as a local source of propellants, vastly limiting the number of trucks that come into Starbase.
At Pad A, all 3 umbilical lines that bring the propellant to the improvised SQD setup have been purged, removing any unwanted object or FOD (Foreign Object Debris).
That same day, teams began removing scaffolding, indicating that Ship 37’s rollout and testing will be sooner than we expect.
As for some flight news, the NOTMARs showing a NET date of August 16th were updated, showing a new, updated NET date of August 22nd.
At the production site, SN2 was moved from the Rocket Garden to the scrapping yard: SN2 is a small test tank article, which conducted a successful cryogenic test on March 8th, 2020, to validate the new structural design.
August 9th - Saturday
There’s not much to say about today, as there wasn’t any noteworthy activity.
We can say that work continued on the OLM at Pad A, preparing the launch site for a static fire or spin prime test for Ship 37: road delays indicate a static fire, but the lack of water deliveries (spotted by Vixxi) suggests a spin prime instead.
Raptor testing
August 3rd
No Raptor tests were conducted today.
August 4th
- Raptor south - 12:19:32 - 24s
- Raptor vertical - 14:58:32 - 21s
Total tests: 2
Total fire time: 45s
-Raptor south: 24s - 1 test
-Raptor vertical: 21s - 1 test
August 5th
- Raptor vertical - 10:19:18 - 96s / 1m36s
- Raptor south - 16:40:13 - 20s
- Raptor south - 16:40:39 - 1s
Total tests: 3
Total fire time: 117s / 1m57s
-Raptor vertical: 96s / 1m36s - 1 test
-Raptor south: 21s - 2 tests
August 6th
- Raptor north - 17:34:10 - 19s
- Raptor south - 17:52:04 - 180s / 2m
- Raptor vertical - 18:43:32 - 179s / 1m59s
Total tests: 3
Total fire time: 378s / 6m18s
-Raptor south: 180s / 2m - 1 test
-Raptor vertical: 179s / 1m59s - 1 test
-Raptor north: 19s - 1 test
August 7th
- Raptor south - 09:05:12 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:05:39 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:06:07 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:06:33 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:07:00 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:07:27 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:07:53 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:08:20 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:08:47 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:09:13 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:09:40 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:10:07 - 19s
- Raptor south - 09:10:33 - 5s
- Raptor south - 15:46:08 - 26s
Total tests: 14
Total fire time: 259s / 4m19s
-Raptor south: 259s / 4m19s - 14 tests
August 8th
- Raptor south - 09:00:02 - 201s / 3m21s
- Raptor south - 16:11:09 - 193s / 2m13s
Total tests: 2
Total fire time: 394s / 6m34s
-Raptor south: 394s / 6m34s - 2 tests
August 9th
No Raptor tests were conducted today.
Weekly stats
Total tests: 24
Total fire time: 1193s / 19m53s
-Raptor south: 878s / 14m38s - 20 tests
-Raptor vertical: 296s / 4m56s - 3 tests
-Raptor north: 19s - 1 test
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
Starship Gazer (@StarshipGazer) / X
