Successful Starship Super Heavy Booster static fire! https://t.co/YclxqPCDRo

Elon Musk  (@elonmusk) August 25, 2023

The action starts at 6:50.

Watch Super Heavy Booster 9's second static fire https://t.co/70DvF5MfKP

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 25, 2023

videos in each tweet

Super Heavy Booster 9 static fire successfully lit all 33 Raptor engines, with all but two running for the full duration. Congratulations to the SpaceX team on this exciting milestone! pic.twitter.com/1hzs768vHg

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 25, 2023

The test produced approximately 7.9 million lbf of thrust (~3,600 metric tons) pic.twitter.com/LA6BIGzzLu

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 25, 2023

pic.twitter.com/jvAFyiDF9E

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 25, 2023

[youtube]shorts/2tYbLOlLLzA[/youtube]

remove the "shorts/"

The easiest is to right click with cursor on the video itself, and select copy link address. Then post here using the YouTube option.

Amazing

It looked like one of the pipes to the right of the tower sprung a leak.

I think it's just a relief valve, it's done it on all of the tests.

Yeah, the pipe angles up and then back down with a valve on top.  I believe they pump nitrogen or some gas in there to pressurize the water and they don't want that gas to get to the rocket area hence the bend up and valve on top.  

I'll have to remember that.
Apparently they lost the camera van. LOL

The bidet appears to work well. I wonder about erosion from the exhaust but time will tell.

The chines look rather neat sticking out from all that frost.

2 didnt go the distance... Wonder if that means another test.
I also wonder if theyll start strapping on some extra copvs to be able to try and restart some of the outers...

Outers can only be started by the OLM hardware. Part of the simplification that they introduced. Less parts on the vehicle itself to save weight and complexity.

Nick

As an FYI...try cutting even thin stainless sheet with a oxy/acetylene torch. It's damn near impossible. That thick plate will hold up fine for the few seconds before liftoff.

I know that is how they are currently configured. Elon takes the approach of deleting things till you have to add them back in though.
I think they can only lose 3 engines. Of course I have no idea why 2 shut down on this test and 4 om the previous but some extra copvs doesn't seem like the worst tax...

I guess it matters when they can only lose 3 engines. Right on liftoff and you have to stress the remaining ones to take up the slack or abort if the clamps have not released yet.
They need all of those engines running as they should be, for the entire duration too.

It wouldn't be just a few extra COPVs, rather it would be plumbing them to 20 additional engines along with the weight and complexity that goes along with that.  Addressing the reliability of the engines should be the fix. Redesigning the entire thrust section of the booster to gain a capability useful for what should be a very limited failure mode, i.e. an otherwise healthy engine was shutdown but would not have the same issue if a restart was attempted, seems like the opposite of what space x is trying to do.

The startup is one of the most finicky parts of the reliability.

Thats not really a redesign of the entire thrust section, it's maybe stretching the chines a little bit and a little bit of pipe.

Was also just an off the cuff thought, no idea which engines were a problem or why...

Mid Bay demo expected soon. They're making me nervous.

ETA- It's dead, Jim.

Ladies and Gentlemen...say goodbye to MidBay! MidBye? We salute you and thank you for all you've done old fella!@LabPadre #Rover1 pic.twitter.com/wiUN2kb9Hx

VixXi  (@VickiCocks15) August 27, 2023

Yes there is that. They are quite a ways from proof of concept.

@Dagger41, how far would you say they are from proof of concept?.
Would a successful orbital test do it for you?.

Well, the concept is a re-useable booster and a re-useable payload delivery system. Neither of them have gotten out of the atmosphere, let alone get to orbit.
So, a successful launch, orbit and recovery of both vehicles would prove that aspect of the concept is a success.

I would say 2-3 years if everything goes right.

Wow, I saw an excavator arm pulling a cable in the lower right.  Its probably just the angle but so close to where the midbay falls.  Reminds me of the liveleak videos of buildings falling on excavators.  

Astounding ignorance / incompetence in the writing of this article. There’s a complete lack of understanding or distinction between damage from the violent energy at liftoff vs the rocket later being self-destructed.

US Wildlife Officials Stunned by Environmental Damage of SpaceX Explosion: Report

Do they have these for each of the outer engines?

Even funnier is getting butthurt over a joke.

pic.twitter.com/Y4oloitDc0

David Willis  (@ThePrimalDino) August 26, 2023

The average large pizza is delivered on time.

Scott Manley  (@DJSnM) August 27, 2023

Starship or not, too funny not to share.

Well, it's not like the government has the best record when dealing with fast food.



That said as much as I disapprove of SLS in general, if they were taking collections I would toss them a 50.

Starship would get a couple hundo though.

Dude is gonna need skin grafts after Scott flamed him.

Additional views from Booster 9’s second static fire pic.twitter.com/uNVwI0uNiN

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 28, 2023

Booster 9 static fire from the top of the launch tower pic.twitter.com/AScDvl50ww

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) August 28, 2023

Hmm so half thrust test again.

Pictures from my visit. It seems that I went there at just the right time to see SN-24 and SN-15.

Attached File


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Well, Jeep is ready to make the road trip again - any news if he will get FAA approval for the dates of the Coast Guard warning?

FTS (Flight Termination System) explosives were delivered today and work was being performed on Booster 9's FTS at the same time. Definitely signs that a launch is near. \uD83D\uDE80

8/31/23 pic.twitter.com/VbqwFmFN89

Starship Gazer  (@StarshipGazer) August 31, 2023

They should name the launch tower Dante.

Cool fact: the CSCC2 SAA's have listed near term planned Starship milestones such as:
- First Starship launch with payload Q1 2024
- Successful Starship Recovery Q3 2024
- Starship LEO crewed space station PDR Q4 2028
Also details to the Blue Origin orbital crew capsule timeline. pic.twitter.com/ev65UO49F7

Barry Jenakuns  (@jenakuns) September 1, 2023

COLLABORATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE CAPABILITIES 2 (CCSC2)

UNFUNDED SPACE ACT AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
AND
SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
FOR
COLLABORATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE CAPABILITIES 2

List of the various SAA's here. Lots of interesting implications for timelines.https://t.co/iAROo2o9Qahttps://t.co/CXIS0hjGCUhttps://t.co/9pRDayDCgchttps://t.co/nofaP7Xa90https://t.co/82Hfvy79Srhttps://t.co/co69UeJMephttps://t.co/6pjnbHJLm9

Barry Jenakuns  (@jenakuns) September 1, 2023

Going through the SAA document listed for Blue includes:
- Friction stir additive manufacturing of parts with lunar ISRU
- vacuum testing of Blue's prototype space vehicle Mk1
-SCIFLI LOFTID Imaging to inform Blue's own reusable upper stagehttps://t.co/NOP1ydK1ng

good stuff

Barry Jenakuns  (@jenakuns) September 1, 2023

About  2 weeks ago I was at NASA in Clear Lake, TX for a "small business manufacturers" conference.  

A couple JSC employees (Senior) gave a Power Point presentation about the space plans for the next 30 years.  It's simply amazing.

Moon orbiting Space Station
Moon Base
Mars orbiting Space Station
Mars base.

All from private companies.  The ISS is the last "government" space station.


CMOS

I made a prediction when it was launched that the Webb Observatory would be the last big government-old space project.

It looks like that prediction is coming true.

As it should be.  Look at SpaceX.  They did in 15 years what it took NASA to do in 60.


CMOS

SpaceX has more cameras mounted on the tower compared to IFT 1. Hopefully we get to see all these camera views on launch day! pic.twitter.com/HxQ5Kz1Y0n

RGV Aerial Photography  (@RGVaerialphotos) September 2, 2023

Specifically... What?

NASA was established in 1958... Man on the moon 11 years later.

If you go back to NACA - established 1915... Still not 60 years.

Not disputing that SpaceX and private space are kicking NASA's ass, but what benchmark are you qualifying the 15 vs 60 years?

NASA couldn't fight gravity and the EPA at the same time.

SUPER HEAVY SPECULATION ALERT:

Those of you who watch the Starbase Weekly livestreams will have heard parts of this theory already.

I am now 95% confident that SpaceX is in the process of building not one, but two Super Heavy Static Fire Test stands. One will be located near… pic.twitter.com/YAg36k3jTc

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) September 2, 2023

SUPER HEAVY SPECULATION ALERT:

Those of you who watch the Starbase Weekly livestreams will have heard parts of this theory already.

I am now 95% confident that SpaceX is in the process of building not one, but two Super Heavy Static Fire Test stands. One will be located near the Subortibal tank farm, and the other will be at the Massey's test site.

These test stands are essentially mini versions of the Orbital Launch Mount. There are a few major differences though:

1. These stands will not have launch capability so they will be much simpler. No retracting hold down clamps, but they will have 20 Raptor Quick Disconnects for starting the outer 20 engines. These QD's will likely not need to retract into the table, but they MIGHT do so in order to prevent them from being damaged as the booster is lowered in. Keeping the booster stable is a lot more difficult when using a crane for this job.

2. Because of the location of these test stands, and severe limitations on space, the method of testing engines will have to be different than how its done on the OLM. Im other words, SpaceX will not want flames shooting out in 360 degree and will instead direct the exhaust plume to one side.  

With that said I believe its highly probable that both of these test stands will have flame trenches under them. Its really the only way to make this work. This will inevitable cause people to start suggesting that they have had a change of heart and that they have realized that a flame trench was the right way to go all along but in my opinion this is not the conclusion we should come to when we see it.

So now there is the question of WHY. Why would SpaceX need test stands just for Static Fire testing?

1. Well at some point, launches will become much more frequent. This means the OLM will be nearly always be busy preparing for the next launch. As the launch cadence inevitably increases, there will be a backlog of boosters waiting to perform pre-flight engine testing. This will prevent that from becoming a problem.

2. The Orbital Launch Mount, with its new Bidet system is limited to Static fire tests of less than 10 seconds. It is truly designed for Launching Full stacks, and not for long duration tests purely due to the volume of water stored in the tanks.

3. The OLM is also believed to be limited to Static Fire tests with thrust values at or around 50%. This is a result of the design of the hold down clamps. Also, the skirt of the booster is likely not designed for the kind of forces it would experience if it was being held down at max thrust. There is no evidence of this currently, but its possible there may be some additional hold down capability with this test stand. This would likely involve placing a cap on top of the booster and strapping it down to the test stand. As I said, something like this would only be necessary if they want to perform SF tests at higher thrust levels.

So if this speculation is true, what should we be on the lookout for?

1. The areas where these will be located will either be built up to accommodate a flame trench, or they will soon begin excavating large holes into the ground for this purpose.

2. The suborbital tank farm will likely need to be expanded in order to increase its LOX and CH4 storage capabilities. I believe SpaceX is already in the beginning stages of this massive renovation.

3. CH4 storage tanks will need to be added to the Massey's test site. They will also need additional GSE equipment for filling Booster COPV's. This includes Helium storage, CO2 for the engine skirt purge system.

4. There will likely also need to be additional water tanks installed for traditional deluge systems for both of these tests stands. If they plan to do longer duration tests than what is allowed on the OLM, than these will be rather large storage tanks. Expecting they would be elevated water towers but we will have to wait and see.

Anyways, thats all for now. I usually don't like to post things like this on X anymore because something like this will get turned into a script on someone else's YT channel without mentioning the original source. But at the moment, I currently don't have time to make a video on this topic.

I am in the middle of two other deep dive investigations so this one will have to wait until things have developed further. We will discuss this more tomorrow during the RGV Starbase Weekly Live Stream!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to add additional thoughts in the replies below.

Do I spy an IMAX camera??