Elon Musk’s SpaceX is constantly progressing towards the next big Starship event — the 5th flight test. The preparations at the company’s Starbase, Texas launch site are in full swing.
SpaceX has prepared Booster 12 (1st stage/rocket booster) and Ship 30 (upper/2nd stage) for the Flight 5 orbital launch test. Both of these vehicles have been going through a series of tests for the last few months to ensure flight integrity.
After the 33-engine static fire test on the Booster 12 Super Heavy rocket booster earlier this month, SpaceX has made construction progress on the 2nd launch tower, the new office building, and the Starfactory. Another static fire test was performed on Ship 30. Let’s go through the updates one by one.
2nd Static Fire Test on Starship 30
SpaceX performed a 6-engine static fire test on Ship 30 this past Saturday (27th July 2024). The 2nd stage Starship has 6 Raptor engines installed at the aft (bottom) section. 3 of these engines are sea-level and 3 are vacuum engines. Vacuum or RVac engines can be identified by their large bell-shaped opening that provides thrust in space.
The 1st static fire test was performed on Flight 5 Starship 30 back in May. The significant delay between the 1st and 2nd static fire tests was due to the Flight 4 launch and landing test conducted in June.
After the success of the Starship Flight 4 test, SpaceX re-focused its time and energies on Flight 5 Starship. SpaceX released the adrenaline-filled slow-motion footage of the Ship 30 static fire test from an interesting camera angle — beneath the Starship engine bay, showing the sheer intensity of six Raptor engines firing at once.
The engines in the outer circle with larger openings throwing bluish flame are the three vacuum (RVac) engines. The three placed in the center with normal red flame are the sea-level (atmosphere) Raptor engines (pic above, video below).
The duration of the 6-engine Ship 30 static fire was 5 seconds long. Ship 30 was shifted from the static fire stand to the transport stand and rolled back to the production site after test completion. NASASpaceFlight reports that no heat shield tiles were observed falling off Ship 30 during the static fire test.
2nd Starship Launch Tower Construction Update
The construction of the 2nd launch tower is progressing fast. For multiple and simultaneous launches and landings of the Starship, SpaceX is building another launch tower at Starbase beside the 1st one (Mecazilla). The 2nd launch tower will utilize Pad B for launch integration (mounting Starships onto Super Heavy boosters).
SpaceX is constructing the 2nd launch tower in pieces (modules). Large pre-fabricated launch tower modules are brought to the launch site and a crane lifts them onto the existing modules. As a module is placed on the lower one, the human teams start the jointing process (watch below).
Till the end of last week, SpaceX had already stacked 4 modules of the 2nd launch tower and the 5th module was transported to the launch site that should be integrated this week.
Starship V2 Progress
During a documentary recorded at Starbase by Everyday Astronaut (Tim Dodd), Elon Musk said “The slightly stretched version can be called V2”.
According to Elon Musk, the major difference between Starship V1 (currently in use for orbital tests), V2, and V3 is their diameter. V2 will be slightly wider or stretched than V1 but V3 Starships will have a 9-meter (29.5 feet) diameter.
The first-ever V2 Starship is the Ship 33 that is being developed at Starbase. In the Tower Module 4 video above, we can witness Ship 33 (screenshot below). However, only the nosecone of Ship 33 has been spotted at the launch site. SpaceX moved Ship 33 (the first V2 Starship) from the High Bay to the Mega Bay last.
Ship 33 nosecone has partial thermal protection system (TPS) heat shield tiles installed. Because the diameter has changed, SpaceX must be testing the new tiles for fitment. Ship 33 has some significant design changes from its V1 predecessors that we will discuss deeply in another report in the coming days.
Starbase Updates
SpaceX Starbase is as busy as it gets in preparations for the Flight 5 launch test ahead. Other than Flight 5-related activities, SpaceX has other projects going on at this launch site like the new office building, Starfactory, 2nd launch tower construction, and manufacturing the next Starship versions.
SpaceX installed concrete on Pad B (2nd orbital launch mount). Booster 15 stacking also continued in the bay behind the under construction new office building. SpaceX teams worked on Mega Bay 2 and tested the Test Tank 16 (watch in video above).
SpaceX moved Ship 31 to the High Bay and performed a static fire test on Ship 30. Raptor vacuum (RVac) and sea-level engines were seen taken to the High Bay for installation on Ship 31. Serial numbers spotted on RVac engines were R391, R376, and R320. Sea-level Raptors spotted were R386 and R374. The 3rd sea-level engine’s number wasn’t spotted by NASASpaceFlight (watch below).
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