totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[RCgothic]

Ultimately the build site is much too far away from the launch site. They're not going to roll back and forth between each launch.

[magnemoe]

3 hours ago, RCgothic said:

Certainly if all Superheavy/Starship stacking had to happen away from the launch site and SpaceX still wanted to pursue their aggressive flight cadence they'd need something as tall as the VAB with at least 4 bays.

Probably a good reason for doing the stacking on the launch pad.

I'm curious though as to what the payload integration facility for Starship will look like.

Plan is to stack on launch pad, but you have more control and its easier to fix problems you do it at construction site. 
Assume they also do the first cargo integrations here as in stacks of startlink satellites. 
Down the line they probably add an starship integration and checkout building close to the pad. 
As the cargo bay for starship will not be up to cleanroom standards (how to practical do this?) I assume then it start getting used for other launches I guess the satellites will be put in an clean box, stack these boxes on an frame or adapter and put this inside the bay. The high capacity of starship let you get away with plenty of stuff here. 

[tater]

 

[RealKerbal3x]

Meanwhile, Tory is still looking for his engines...

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

SOON TM

[RealKerbal3x]

The 9th launch tower section is being stacked, aside from a 3m lightning rod this will bring the tower to its full height.

The orbital launch table (!) is also on its way to the pad:

 

[Beccab]

2 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

The 9th launch tower section is being stacked, aside from a 3m lightning rod this will bring the tower to its full height.

The orbital launch table (!) is also on its way to the pad:

 

aaaand GSE 5 is on the move too!

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Beccab

[RealKerbal3x]

A couple closer looks at the orbital launch table:

 

[Spaceception]

Orbital launch table, and GSE tank rollout, and launch tower stacking in the same day?

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Spaceception

[Beccab]

8 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Orbital launch table, and GSE tank rollout, and launch tower stacking in the same day?

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand three more raptors (either yesterday or the day before three more had arrived as well)

 

[RealKerbal3x]

Just now, Beccab said:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand three more raptors (either yesterday or the day before three more had arrived as well)

 

 

[Spaceception]

Looks like there was a 4th

 

[RealKerbal3x]

30 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Looks like there was a 4th

There are four lights raptors

[tater]

 

[RCgothic]

 

 

[tater]

SN20 in mid bay:

 

[sevenperforce]

31 minutes ago, tater said:

[Tweet about Booster 4]

Cool image, but fuzzy. 

I think I can make out the skirt mating points where the rim becomes thicker. Are there three mounting points in the center for pusher separation rods to the Raptors?

[tater]

 

[Beccab]

 

[RCgothic]

 

 

 

[Beccab]

1 minute ago, RCgothic said:

 

 

 

YES!

[RealKerbal3x]

8 minutes ago, Beccab said:

YES!

Note that this isn't tiles just yet, only the thermal blankets that go underneath.

[sevenperforce]

15 minutes ago, RCgothic said:

If you go to the source image you can see that the view we're getting is the lee side, not the windward side. This gives us a general idea of how far around the nosecone the heat shield is going to wrap. I'm really curious to see what they do for the very tip, though, because I don't see any tile studs above the insulation at all.

I was reflecting on the possibilities concerning the lifting arm assembly for the tower. We know that the tower is going to catch the booster as well as provide all lifting and stacking capabilities, which means the rail-mounted arms are going to need to turn to one side to pick up a booster or Starship (possibly by the forward elonerons?), grab it, then rotate to the other side. That presents a challenging question with respect to degrees of freedom.

Ordinarily, you would want to do something like this:

However, the catch frame is mounted on three rails directly underneath the lifting pulleys, so it cannot rotate. Another option would be something like this, with extension elements.

But that seems challenging as well. My guess is that there will be a larger frame that is fixed to the rails enclosing a smaller frame that rotates within it, and the catch arms will each have a single degree of freedom on that smaller frame.

[RCgothic]

 

 

 

[RCgothic]