SpaceX has been making a ton of progress on the upcoming projects at Starbase, Boca Chica Texas lately after the Flight 5 launch and landing catch success.
Elon Musk’s aerospace company is mainly working on two major projects at Starbase — Flight 6 Starship (Booster 13 + Ship 33) and the next-gen Starship V2.
SpaceX has also been busy working on the orbital launch mount (OLM) Pad B for the 2nd launch tower at Starbase. The erection of the 2nd launch tower Mechazilla has been completed and SpaceX is now working on its components like the quick-disconnect (QD) arm and the launch mount (Pad B).
There have been several developments in the SpaceX Starship domain since the Flight 6 Super Heavy static fire test in the last week of October. Let’s go through them one by one below.
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Flight 6 (IFT-6) Preparations
SpaceX is speeding up its procedures and tests to perform the Starshipo IFT-6 (Integration Flight Test 6) as soon as possible. After the static fire test of Booster 13 late last month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on X saying “Flight 6 is coming up soon!“.
Around 2 weeks have passed since Musk’s update but the Flight 6 test is not yet in sight. However, Flight 6 spacecraft Ship 31 was spotted inside the High Bay at Starbase. SpaceX engineers removed some thermal protection system (TPS) heat shield tiles from Ship 31 in order to fix and re-install them properly later on.
Once again, SpaceX is holding the Flight 6 test due to the lack of an environmental and safety approval by the FAA. Interestingly, during a SpaceX engineers meeting, the audio of which Elon Musk posted on X (Twitter) as he posted his Diablo gameplay video, a person was heard saying “We’ve not been FAA driven”, which likely suggests that Flight 6 doesn’t need a separate license by the FAA.
“We are trying to go — do a reasonable balance of speed and risk mitigation on the booster specifically,” a SpaceX engineer further explained. This means that although SpaceX wants to perform the Flight 6 test as soon as possible only after assuring full safety measures and risk mitigation.
Starship V2 (Ship 33)
Ship 33 is the first Starship V2 prototype. SpaceX has been working on it for a while now. Looking at recent pics and videos from Starbase, Ship 33 has finally taken shape.
SpaceX performed multiple cryogenic pressure-proof tests on V2 Ship 33 at Starbase. These tests are done to evaluate the integrity of the internal components of the spaceship. SpaceX has already installed TPS heat shield tiles on the Ship 33 (V2).
Starship prototypes used until Flight 6 (IFT-6) test are the V1 or 1st generation of Starships. Ship 33 has marked the beginning of the next-generation V2 Starships and will most probably be used for the Flight 7 (IFT-7) launch and landing test.
Starship V2 Height vs. V1 and V3
Starship V2 is taller than its V1 predecessor. SpaceX has installed an additional ring to the tank section (see pic above). The tanking rings of Starship V2 are also stretched a bit. Both of these enhancements along with a shortened payload section gives Starship V2 an increased propellant load capacity.
Earlier this year, during a SpaceX presentation at Starbase, Elon Musk showed the following slide that compares the height and specifications of Starship V1, V2, and V3.
Starship V1 is 50.3 meters tall while the next-gen Starship V2 is 52.1 meters in height (only upper/2nd stage). This makes Starship V2 1.8 meters taller than the previous gen V1 Starship.
Since the Starship V2 tank section is larger than V1, it stores an additional +300 tons of propellant (liquid oxygen + methane / LOX). Current V1 Starships can store 1200 tons of propellant while V2 has a 1500-ton capacity.
Starship V3 (not in development yet) is going to be 69.8 meters tall which will be 19.5 meters taller than V1 and 17.7 meters taller than Starship V2.
Orbital Pad B Construction Progress
SpaceX has laid down the concrete foundation of the Orbital Pad B (OLM Pad B) which will be used as a launch Starship launch mount for the 2nd launch tower at Starbase.
Interestingly, looking at the construction progress of Pad B, it looks like a square OLM rather than a round-shaped one like the original OLM at the 1st tower (Mechazilla). However, the construction is in the early stages and SpaceX is going to put the parts together in the coming days (stay tuned for updates).
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 launch and landing test. Starship V2 development and Orbital Pad B construction at Starbase (report, videos, more).){kind=link}