Where's the Six-Engine Static Fire? | Starship Update

[00:02] remain as ship 40 has only half completed its static fire testing [music] where's booster 20? Also, ship 41 has replaced ship 40 over at Massey's. And the space coast skyline continues to evolve as construction

[00:16] progresses at both historic launch complex 39A and space launch complex 37. this week. From [music] Florida space coast to South Texas, and all of that coming up and more on this week's Starship update.

[00:41] >> Right, I have to apologize right off the bat folks because I know you guys hate these. I know they don't look great on camera, but it is peak summer time right now in Central Florida and your boy is struggling. So, this is going to be

[00:54] off in Star Factory as there have been some really strange developments with taking a really good look at ship 42. With ship 41's upcoming cryogenic testing campaign, which we'll talk about later, ship 42 will soon be able to fill

[01:09] the slot where ship 41 was stacked inside Mega Bay 2. The first part of a into the bay is always the PEZ dispenser, shortly followed by the nose section. Fingers crossed we see that soon. Now, the reason we're talking

[01:23] about ship 42 is because we've seen what we believe to be quality assurance inspection work on this vehicle's nose cone tiles through the Star Factory windows. SpaceX is taking great interest in making sure its thermal protection

[01:35] system is in the best possible shape prior to stacking. But, ship 42's nose cone is not what we are interested in this week. First, let's take a look at what on Earth SpaceX have bolted onto the side of this nose cone right here.

[01:47] Our best guess as to what this could be used for is a pass-through allowing a piston to connect to internal nose cone hardware for structural testing. We've seen a similar thing happen on the booster 18.1 test tank in the past, but

[01:59] despite what we've seen discussed in the community, no, this is not human landing Killjoy on that one. Some other strange activity is a mix of black and white tiles being installed on this nose cone. Interestingly, the white tiles are much

[02:13] smaller than the standard black tiles that we have become used to. It's now installation stand, allowing it to be used for the next nose cone coming down the line. Thanks to this example though, we can see that SpaceX is planning on

[02:25] switching to pins for the tiles on the tip of the nose. On previous nose cones, they've been using an adhesive of sorts due to the very unique geometry of this way to the nose cone jail of Massie's, or maybe it's being sent right to the

[02:37] scrapyard over at Sanchez. Only time will tell. Elsewhere at the production site, we've seen the booster landing tank installation jig rolling into Megabay 1. This means the full stack of booster 21 is imminent. One of the

[02:49] forward section of the booster containing the methane tank, and then Then, the other bridge crane from the opposite side will hook up to the forward section as these cranes cannot reach across the entire bay. A problem

[03:01] which will be solved by Gigabay, but more on that later. Once attached, the the oxygen tank, allowing them to be welded together. This week has also seen Gigabay. More structure of the final level has been lifted into place, giving

[03:15] us a better idea of just how big this building is going to be once complete as SpaceX teams continue to finish out this level. Eventually, Gigabay will house 24 bays, allowing SpaceX to produce more ships and boosters more quickly.

[03:28] Combined with Star Factory, this huge complex will be a rocket production line the likes of which we have never seen before. Not even that thing behind me. wrapping up the cadence, but thanks to its height, it will also provide the

[03:41] space required for the next version of Starship, version 4. Now, while progress >> the Texas Gigabay remains a little behind that of its counterpart here in cameras, we can see that a majority of the wall cladding is already in place

[03:55] and that its roof is nearing completion as well. So, teams may be starting to haven't already. We'll have more on the SpaceX later in the episode. But for launch sites. Even though we've already seen a flight from pad two, the launch

[04:09] site remains in an eternal state of construction. Adjacent to the Delta one entrance, there is a bunch of digging and construction work ongoing. This work at the front of the site. In the background, you can also see the walls

[04:22] of a mystery building going up. Speaking of pad two, we've seen more work on the chopsticks this week. This grinding and welding follows all the other, well, grinding and welding that we've seen as of late. So, SpaceX is probably working

[04:34] for catching hardware. A booster catch attempt on the next flight is looking unlikely due to the boost back issues on flight 12. But flight 14 should follow booster catch may be heading our way soon. Believe it or not, the last time

[04:48] SpaceX caught a booster was back in March of last year. We're due. Down at the launch mount, the scaffolding on top has pretty much been fully removed. This might sound like a minor update, but it's a big indication that booster 20

[05:01] testing. But what testing is done here exactly? Well, that's right, a 33 engine updates to come later in the episode though. Next door, work is continuing on

[05:13] the reconstruction of the OG pad one. More progress has been made on its now installed. As a reminder, this structure is being prefabricated next to the pad. When SpaceX is happy, it will then be lifted over its final position

[05:26] next to the flame trench. And speaking of which, we've seen a wall section sections arriving by truck as well. We've also seen the arrival of flame trench bucket A-frame supports. Once installed, the two halves of the bucket

[05:39] will rest against these. In addition to the flame trench and top deck deltas, this creates a very strong system that is able to withstand the thrust of 33 Raptor 3 engines. Up at the ship quick disconnect arm, we've seen more cutting

[05:51] taking place. Last week, we noted how SpaceX hooked up the entire arm, tower in one go, but then aborted. Perhaps it's in such poor shape that pieces first. We've also seen an actuator being lifted away. As a

[06:06] reminder, pad one will be receiving a new arm and SQD just like pad two. It's compatible with version three of Starship. Once complete, pad one will be one of up to potentially five different launch pads that Starship will have

[06:20] access to as it begins its operational phase of flight, hopefully for a very long career. Now, let's move on to the star of the show, flight 13. When will it launch? And what's going on with ship 40? This past Tuesday, ship 40 was

[06:32] finally moved out of mega bay two and on the mast use after receiving its six Raptor engines earlier in the month. Usually, if all goes well, ship engine testing consists of two separate tests. A single engine static fire to simulate

[06:44] an engine relight while in space, followed by a long duration firing of all six engines. Three sea level Raptors far for version three, we've seen a variety of extra tests though. Not

[06:57] but because these are the first ever flights of a completely new engine design, being Raptor 3, after replacing Raptor 2 on versions one and two of Starship. On ship 39 for example, SpaceX teams conducted five total engine tests,

[07:12] including at least one spin prime test where they spun up the engines turbo ignition. The propellant used there is what those white puffs are coming out of the engines during these tests. Spin primes are done to verify the engines

[07:25] ending. Of the other tests conducted on ship 39, one of them may have been an igniter test, which hence the name is what ignites the engines. These are usually a lot easier to spot and hear with Raptor

[07:40] 3 and its brand new acoustic igniters, especially during booster testing. There were also two other tests that were not entirely sure about though. primes, but visibility towards masses can be really tough sometimes, so it's

[07:55] difficult to tell. And of course, the big one was the six engine static fire. On day one of testing for ship 40, only one day after roll out mind you, Massey tank farm spooled up and loaded it with a full load of liquid oxygen and a small

[08:08] used to seeing in this phase of testing to minimize explosive risk. As we near test, based on when we saw the flaps being tested, which is usually around happen right away. But a short time later, one of our deployable cameras

[08:23] spotted two short flashes. One below the static fire stand itself and the vehicle. The flash appearing from below vacuum optimized engines as they sit slightly lower on the vehicle compared

[08:37] flash in between the vehicle and the stand itself. These would indicate this was an igniter test of all six engines. But there is also a chance this was an aborted static fire test at the point of engine ignition. But this seems unlikely

[08:51] activation. About 24 hours later, the tank farm once again spooled up for day time around though was the ship was only loaded with half a load of liquid oxygen, ruling out the potential for a six engine static fire. We have never

[09:04] seen SpaceX do a six engine test without a full load of locks. Curiously though, the ship was fueled with what seemed like a bit more methane than normal. But new norm for this kind of testing going forward. But what happened next? The

[09:18] flaps moved indicating T-10 minutes, but as we got to that T0 time, nothing happened. Maybe SpaceX entered a hold or recycled the count as the flaps were minutes later, we finally saw the deluge system activate and the ship ignited a

[09:32] single engine for 15 seconds. Why the hold though? We don't have any insight into operations there, so we're not entirely sure. But this time around, flight, the in-space relight burning normally happens around the T plus 38

[09:45] have been teams allowing the propellant conditions that it would during this phase of flight, providing a more Afterwards, Ship 40 didn't start

[09:57] the vehicle looked like it maintained propellant levels for a lot longer were gathering extra data while the vehicle was still in a flight-like said, it could simply be the fact that the frost didn't melt as quickly as we

[10:11] South Texas, so kind of unlikely. Now, all of that seemed normal in terms of mentioning we have not seen a single-engine test since Ship 37. What's not normal is that Ship 40 was rolled back to Megabay 2 not long after. No

[10:26] six-engine test to be seen anywhere. Moving a ship back to the production test could indicate teams found something problematic in the ship. Perhaps in some data from previous days that required immediate attention.

[10:38] Whether that means swapping out certain parts or a whole engine, we're not sure. But SpaceX did post photos and videos of the test on X, which has historically So, we're kind of in the blind here in terms of what's happening. That all

[10:52] being said, though, Ship 40 actually is not the biggest hurdle in the Flight 13 time to talk about the booster side of the equation. Booster 20 is set to fly coupled with Ship 40 for Flight 13. But it's been inside of Megabay 1 for a

[11:05] majority of June now, having completed its cryogenic test campaign a whole month after Ship 40. Inside Megabay 1, production teams should be actively installing its 33 Raptor 3 engines, along with its grid fins, and all the

[11:17] remaining hardware that was absent for cryogenic proof testing. If they want to out of Pad 2 for testing around the second week of July at the latest, as it booster to go from static fire testing to launch. Of course, they can always

[11:32] speed things up, and a lot of our data is from the version two era, where ships were primarily the cause of delays. But, either way, it does not look promising fresh air very soon. Down the road is the Massey's test site, which gained a

[11:46] new friend this week as Ship 21 has taken a 5 and 1/2 mile trip for its this time, it will be filled to the brim with super cold liquid oxygen in the oxygen tank and liquid nitrogen in the methane tank. This inert fluid is used

[11:59] those super cold temperatures without falling apart, that there isn't a Ship follows after it's proven it can hold cryogenic propellants, though? In a nutshell, it'll first head back to Mega Bay 2, where its six Raptor engines are

[12:13] head back out to Massey's, but this time for static fire testing. And, if all goes well, it'll return to Mega Bay 2 for final outfitting and payload back to the launch site for stacking on a Super Heavy Booster, final pre-launch

[12:28] testing, and of course, flight. But, of course again, it is much easier said than done, and that is an extremely oversimplified explanation. Also at Massey's, the cap has been removed from the Super Crusher, one of the stands

[12:41] integrity of their test tank articles. Currently inside is the Booster 18.3 test tank with a ship aft skirt mock-up set on top. It looks like SpaceX is done with testing involving the cap, but not with testing in general. The bottom of

[12:55] set up for structural testing of the liquid oxygen landing tank bracing. Why? Well, to be honest, we're not entirely sure. B18.3 is composed of a forward dome section and a common dome section. On a real booster, the landing tank is

[13:09] a really weird one. It's time for a McGregor minute. There has been a solid round of Raptor testing this week with 13 firings in total. This is down from 16 last week, but still a solid amount of data. One of which started and ended

[13:24] for about 8 seconds before it threw a temper tantrum and rapidly disassembled itself in an unscheduled manner on the Raptor vertical stand. Thankfully, the quickly back up and supporting another test the next day. Of the remaining 11

[13:39] place at the Raptor vertical stand and three of them at the Raptor North stand. strategically splitting engine firings between stand locations, likely for different types of engine testing. The Raptor South stand tends to support

[13:53] firings over 140 seconds with a lot of short duration re-light tests following. These could be ship Raptors or engines destined for a boosters in a rings. The Raptor vertical stand has only supported runs of around 105 seconds for some

[14:05] boosters given the shorter duration burns. Finally, the Raptor North stand has historically supported tests as long as 420 seconds, a number that SpaceX has a long history with. Recently though, it hasn't supported burns longer than 15

[14:19] seconds and it's rare to see testing here more than other locations. And because of that, it's difficult to say what SpaceX's goal here is though, but the longer duration burns are likely destined for ships. This week, we also

[14:31] observed quite a few tests that either were aborted or purposely didn't reach igniter tests or aborts due to off-nominal data. For the first time in a couple of weeks, there has been a new Raptor record. Sea level Raptor number

[14:44] 180 was spotted. We're nearly at 200 now, which is kind of insane. However, this record has already been broken by another Raptor also in the 180s, but we number. Also spotted were vacuum optimized variants 166 and 171 and sea

[15:00] optimized variants 166 and 171 and sea levels 157, 158, 39, and 80 capping off the week. Now, there is a little bit of history with Raptor number 39 there. as we first spotted it all the way back in October of last year. Evidently,

[15:13] development engine for testing any changes and upgrades to Raptor 3. But we first thought this engine was toast though. Earlier this month, we saw it roll by one of our cameras without a power head. But, it seems SpaceX wasn't

[15:27] McGregor is so valuable. Testing to failure is how you learn to squeeze your engines. Now, let's bring it home to Florida Space Coast, where the skyline here is ever so changing. Launch Complex 39A is Starship's third launch

[15:41] facility and is currently being put through its paces by the testing rig Ivy proofin. That was installed in the pad last week. Ivy proofin's purpose is simple. It was first used on pad two in Starbase to stress test and align every

[15:53] mount. Therefore, verifying that it can withstand the forces produced by a booster's engines. This week, that testing jig finished up the job on the first set of clamps. It was then once again hooked up to the LR11000 crane and

[16:05] rotated for the next set before moving on to whatever's next. Before we move on, though, there are some construction updates at Launch Complex 39A. First, top of the service structure. This is important because it protects its

[16:18] internals from 33 Raptor 3 engines during lift-off. More importantly, though, is a new FAA obstruction evaluation airport airspace analysis entry, or O E AAA to save you from that entire mouthful. These are filed when

[16:32] interfere with surrounding airspace and subsequent air traffic. This is for lifting the roof for Launch Complex 39A's launch tower, which, by the way, will also have lightning rods on top reaching 147 or thereabout meters in

[16:46] height. Now, onto Starship's fourth launch facility. Over at Space Launch Complex 37, the in-progress Starship launch tower is growing as teams have module for the first of two towers there. Remember, towers consist of 11

[16:59] sections, the base, nine modules, and the roof. Weirdly, though, the last three modules are slightly shorter than the others. So, this tower has six installed before reaching its full height. But, you need a lot more

[17:13] hardware for a tower to function as intended. Most noticeably, the integral part of how SpaceX stacks and recovers Starship vehicles. Both rolled out from Roberts Road. Although it's likely they went to Space Launch

[17:26] Complex 37, we don't know for certain yet though. But as we find out more, know in the comments when do you think flight 13 will finally happen and be ready for flight given the current situations with booster 20 and ship 40.

[17:39] And what do you think happened after all to ship 40? Now, I know we ask y'all some of these questions a lot, but SpaceX moves fast and the scene is ever evolving. So, we're always curious to see what y'all think as things progress.

[17:51] I'm Max Evans from NSF and I'll catch you guys in the next one.