Hey everybody, welcome back to the Space News Pod.
This is a show about SpaceX, NASA and spaceflight, and I'm
your host, Will Walden. Now, don't mind the stuff behind
me. We're moving houses, so there's
a bunch of stuff that's being moved.
There's boxes over here and there's like blankets and stuff.
So don't mind that. But what we really need to talk
about is the progress of Starship.
And it's really been heating up as Spacex's Starbase and the
past week alone saw the unveiling and initial testing of
the Raptor 3 engine. There's some spin prime testing
for ship 30 and continued construction on orbital launch
mount. Now, simultaneously, SpaceX is
preparing for its 5th orbital test flight while awaiting
regulatory approval from the FAA, and that's with the
possibility of attempting to catch the booster using the
Meccazilla chopsticks on the tower down at Star Base in
Texas. Now, ship 33, which is part of
Spacex's next flight crew, is nearing full assembly.
It'll be the first Block 2 ship having 21 rings instead of 20
found on Block one ships, and the additional ring allows for
approximately 300 extra tons of propellant, which could
significantly enhance the ship's capabilities and the
performance. Now, 2 remaining sections
include the bottom liquid oxygen tank section and the aft engine
section, which are each composed of four rims.
Now, the recent debut of the Raptor 3 engine was a surprise
to most Starship enthusiasts like myself.
I was like, where'd this thing come from?
The engine set to replace the existing Raptor 2 on future
Starship flights, and Raptor 3 is a refined iteration, with
much of the external plumbing either internalized and hidden
or completely eliminated, including regenerative cooling
channels that are now integrated into the engine casing itself.
You can't even see this stuff now.
This allows the engine to operate at higher pressures
leading to improved performance while reducing the weight also
and the need for support of the outside plumbing.
Now Raptor One, which was used in early suborbital test flights
and on vehicles up to booster four and Ship 20 generated 185
metric tons of thrust and weighed approximately 2080kg or
3630 kilograms with vehicle side commodities.
Raptor 2, which replaced it, started from booster 7.
Ship 24 delivered 230 metric tons tons of thrust while
reducing the engines weight to 1630kg or 2875 kilograms with
additional hardware. Now Raptor 3 which is currently
undergoing testing at MacGregor, well this engine is incredible.
It promises 280 metric tons of thrust with a further reduction
of weight to 1525 kilograms or 1720 kilograms when accounting
for vehicle side components. Now the engines design
improvements, such as the removal of flanges and seals on
the high pressure side enable it to operate at even higher
pressures, enhancing its thrust capabilities.
It remains uncertain when Raptor 3 will be integrated into any
vehicle. More testing is likely to occur
over the next month, which will require to validate the
finalized design and the final product of this ship.
And on the operational front, Ship 30 underwent further engine
testing last week, specifically a spin Prime test.
The test was necessitated by the swap of a Raptor vacuum engine,
with R 398 being replaced by R 384.
Whoa, just hit that. Although the exact reason for
this engine swap remains unclear, is not uncommon for
SpaceX to replace engines before a new test.
Now, following the Spin Prime test, Ship 30 returned to the
production site for final preparations, which include
completing the heat shield and other last minute tasks.
Now these steps are being taken in anticipation of Orbital
Launchpad A becoming available and once they're both Ship 30
and Booster 12 will likely undergo a wet dress rehearsal,
although the timing and the likelihood of this happening in
the next week or so remain uncertain.
We don't know exactly when they're going to be doing this.
And regarding the 5th Orbital test flight, SpaceX has
indicated via X that both the Flight 5 vehicles, Ship 30 and
Booster 12, are ready to go, and that is pending FAA flight
approval now. However, past experience
suggests that such statements they may be optimistic as there
have been instances where the vehicles were not fully flight
ready despite similar claims. It may take them a little while
to get this ready. And while awaiting regulatory
approval for Flight 5, SpaceX has already commenced catch
testing for the upcoming flight, possibly 5 or 6.
Now, B 14.1, which is a booster used for these tests, has
returned to the orbital launch mount for further evaluations.
Meanwhile, Ship 31 is currently undergoing a heat shield
overhaul similar to the work done on Ship 30, which is
expected to occupy the High Bay tailing station for some time
now. Now, Booster 13 paired with Ship
31 has been stationed at Mega Bay One since completing
cryogenic proof testing at April.
Currently, a tent is erected over the forward Dome,
indicating that significant work is likely underway.
Notably, Booster 13 still lacks its grid fins, which is a huge
component for controlling descent during landing.
They need these things. And As for Orbital Launchpad B,
construction continues to progress now.
The tower now has 6 standing modules, and the next three
modules are being prepared for installation once the crane,
which is undergoing reconfiguration, is operational
once again. Now, crews are also reinforcing
the tower by filling its hollow walls with concrete, which will
increase the structure's strength.
Now going forward, work on the suspected flame trench
continues. The flame trench didn't know
there was going to have one as the teams drive sheet piles into
the ground, which is expected to take several more months to
complete. They're not going to be flying
off this thing anytime soon. Additionally, the environmental
assessment proposed released recently provides further
insight into the structures development, though its final
shape remains to be seen. We kind of get an idea what it's
going to be like, but not 100%. SpaceX has also been refining
the landing rail system on the Meccazilla arms, replacing many
of the linkages and upgrading the actuators to handle immense
forces involved during a catch attempt of the booster.
Now, these attachments and enhancements are crucial to
SpaceX moves closer to catching the Super Heavy booster.
This thing's 250 feet tall, and once it separates from the ship,
it'll fly back to Starbase and then be caught by the arms.
Now for this attempt, SpaceX may conduct conduct more tests that
we haven't seen much of where both arms of Meccazilla move in
for a simultaneous closure, mimicking the forces of an
actual booster catch. Now moving in like this, the
test could be pivotal in ensuring the system's
reliability during the next flight, possibly Flight 5 or
five. Flight 6.
Now the issue to public advisory too for Flight 5 for possible
Sonic booms during the upcoming Flight 5 test as it'll be the
first attempt catch of the Super Heavy booster.
Possibly post launch, possibly, I'm saying this possibly it's
going to be 7 and 9 minutes after the launch and it'll be
caused by the booster decelerating from supersonic
speeds and it will create sort of like a Thunder sound.
If you've never heard it or felt it, it's pretty cool when a
Falcon lands, it does a Sonic boom rumbles you.
It's pretty cool. Now their experience with 330
Falcon rocket landing so far. So they know all about the Sonic
booms and they're just warning people in the nearby area.
I mean it's a cool thing to happen and it goes pop pop.
You know when they when they when they do a Sonic boom, it's
like a big pop. But if there's two for a super
heavy, not super heavy, but a Falcon Heavy, pop pop, 2 Sonic
booms, very cool. When this giant booster comes
back, it's going to be like, boom, it's going to be a big
one. But they're still waiting
approval from the FAA for this. And this is despite the existing
license that's issued in June before the 4th flight.
SpaceX must seek a modification to allow the booster to land a
starbase. They can't do this quite yet.
There's new regulatory clearances that need to be done
through the FAA, and the FAA also acknowledged that it is
evaluating Spacex's proposed license to land back at Starbase
for this 5th mission. And if they don't approve it,
that's OK. SpaceX can do another soft water
landing in the Gulf of Mexico and then possibly for Flight 6,
they can come back to come back to the pad.
Now safety is the primary concern of course for the FAA
during this whole process and if everything looks safe, there
should be no issue with this at all.
So please leave a comment down below when you think flight 5
will happen and also will they catch flight 5 booster at
Starbase? Make sure to hit the subscribe
and like button with maximum dynamic pressure.
Dynamic pressure. What was that all about?
So you can get all the new Starship updates and please hit
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That's right. So let me know down in the
comments. What do you think?
Flight 5 or Flight 6? I don't know.
Again, we're moving, so all the stuff in the background, it's
going to change in the next, I don't know, 20 days, 25 days or
so. You'll see a whole new set,
whole new everything behind me. Everything's changing, upgrading
everything. So I want to say thank you to
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Thanks everybody, I appreciate your time.
Take care of yourselves and each other and I will see you in the
next.