FAQ
- When (first) orbital flight? First integrated flight test occurred April 20, 2023. "The vehicle cleared the pad and beach as Starship climbed to an apogee of ~39 km over the Gulf of Mexico – the highest of any Starship to-date. The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship."
- Where can I find streams of the launch? SpaceX Full Livestream. NASASpaceFlight Channel. Lab Padre Channel. Everyday Astronaut Channel.
- What's happening next? SpaceX has assessed damage to Stage 0 and is implementing fixes and changes including a water deluge/pad protection/"shower head" system. No major repairs to key structures appear to be necessary.
- When is the next flight test? Just after flight, Elon stated they "Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months." On April 29, he reiterated this estimate in a Twitter Spaces Q&A (summarized here), saying "I'm glad to report that the pad damage is actually quite small," should "be repaired quickly," and "From a pad standpoint, we are probably ready to launch in 6 to 8 weeks." Requalifying the flight termination system (FTS) and the FAA post-incident review will likely require the longest time to complete. Musk reiterated the timeline on May 26, stating "Major launchpad upgrades should be complete in about a month, then another month of rocket testing on pad, then flight 2 of Starship."
- Why no flame diverter/flame trench below the OLM? Musk tweeted on April 21: "3 months ago, we started building a massive water-cooled, steel plate to go under the launch mount. Wasn’t ready in time & we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag would make it through 1 launch." Regarding a trench, note that the Starship on the OLM sits 2.5x higher off the ground than the Saturn V sat above the base of its flame trench, and the OLM has 6 exits vs. 2 on the Saturn V trench.
Quick Links
RAPTOR ROOST | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE
Starship Dev 48 | Starship Dev 47 | Starship Dev 46 | Starship Dev 45
Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread
Status
Road Closures
| Type | Start (UTC) | End (UTC) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 2023-08-24 13:00:00 | 2023-08-25 01:00:00 | Cancelled |
| Alternative | 2023-08-25 14:00:00 | 2023-08-26 02:00:00 | Concluded |
| Alternative | 2023-08-28 13:00:00 | 2023-08-27 01:00:00 | Cancelled |
Up to date as of 2023-09-05
Vehicle Status
As of 2023-09-22
Follow Ring Watchers on Twitter and Discord for more.
| Ship | Location | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| S20 | Rocket Garden | Retired | |
| S24 | Gulf of Mexico | Destroyed | Destroyed on during Flight Test 1 |
| S25 | Stacked on B9 | Spin Prime and Static Fire | |
| S26 | Test Stand B | Cryo tested | |
| S27 | Rocket Garden | Scrapped | Common dome imploded |
| S28 | Engine Install Stand | Raptors installed | Previously tested at Masseys |
| S29 | Masseys | Awaiting testing | |
| S30 | High Bay | Under construction | |
| S31 | High Bay | Under construction | |
| S32 | Build Site | Parts spotted | |
| S33 | Build Site | Parts spotted | |
| S34 | Build Site | Parts spotted |
| Booster | Location | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-B7 & B8 | Scrapped or Retired | B4 is in the Rocket Garden, the rest are scrapped. | |
| B7 | Gulf of Mexico | Destroyed | Destroyed April 20th in Flight Test 1 |
| B9 | Launch mount | Hot-stage ring installed | Static fire (August 5th) |
| B10 | Megabay 1 | Cryo tested | |
| B11 | Megabay 1 | ||
| B12 | Megabay 1 | Grid fins installed | |
| B13 | Megabay 1 | Stacking | |
| B14 | Build Site | Parts under construction | |
| B15 | Build Site | Parts under construction |
Resources
- LabPadre Channel | NASASpaceFlight.com Channel
- NSF: Booster 7 + Ship X (likely 24) Updates Thread | Most Recent
- NSF: Boca Chica Production Updates Thread | Most recent
- NSF: Elon Starship tweet compilation | Most Recent
- SpaceX: Website Starship page | Starship Users Guide (2020, PDF)
- FAA: SpaceX Starship Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site
- FAA: Temporary Flight Restrictions NOTAM list
- FCC: Starship Orbital Demo detailed Exhibit - 0748-EX-ST-2021 application June 20 through December 20
- NASA: Starship Reentry Observation (Technical Report)
- Hwy 4 & Boca Chica Beach Closures (May not be available outside US)
- Production Progress Infographics by @RingWatchers
- Raptor 2 Tracker by @SpaceRhin0
- Acronym definitions by Decronym
- Everyday Astronaut: Starbase Tour with Elon Musk, Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
- Everyday Astronaut: 2022 Elon Musk Interviews, Starbase/Ship Updates | Launch Tower | Merlin Engine | Raptor Engine
Elon has posted the list of 63 corrective actions: https://nitter.net/elonmusk/status/1700789411279966339#m
A readable text version of the 63-item list can be see on Reddit here and a reply.
I copied and pasted it here. Thanks to @[email protected] for pointing me back at the RES extension so I could get the source.
Each item is on its own line. C## is the ID#. If there's text before it on its line, that's its Observation / Description section name; if it's at the start of the line, the Observation / Description string is the next one above.
List of Actions:
| Observation / Description | ID# | Corrective Action Description | Status | | ---------------------------------- |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | | Tank sensing | C1 | Replace certain fittings with welds inside tank | Complete | | Aft end cavity environment failure | C2 | Increase fire suppression capacity by 15x | Complete | | | C3 | Replace certain manifolds with dedicated drain per corresponding valve | Complete | | | C4 | Replace certain flanges with better seals and improve joint design | Complete | | | C5 | Replace certain fittings with welds in specific location | Complete | | Booster leak | C6 | Replace accessible valves of a certain type with new design | Complete | | mitigation | C7 | Replace certain flange bolts with higher strength bolts and increase torque | Complete | | | C8 | Disallow certain seal re-use, and add cameras to monitor all engines during ground operations | Complete | | | C9 | Increased scrutiny on leak checks | Complete | | | C10 | 90+ cameras added to detect leakage during operations | Complete | | | C11 | Add leak capture and drain hardware for valves of a certain type | Complete | | | C12 | Add leak check and screen for porosity on igniter units | Complete | | | C13 | Improved igniter seal design | Future Action | | | C14 | Weld certain alignment bolt holes shut | Complete | | Raptor leak | C15 | Reassess k-factor and torque for engine hot joint #1, add leak capture and route overboard | Complete | | mitigation | C16 | Reassess k-factor and torque for engine hot joint #2 | Complete | | | C17 | Add safety cable to certain fluid lines on high risk locations | Complete | | | C18 | Add one methane sensor per engine bay | Complete | | | C19 | Ground test campaign to better characterize typical engine leakage | Complete | | | C20 | Improve structural FEA/fatigue analysis for all medium to high criticality lines | Complete | | | C21 | Add insulation to engine lines sensitive to thermally driven loads | Complete | | Collateral | C22 | Add insulation to avionic harnessing | Complete | | damage from fire | C23 | Add backup wire to specific harness | Complete | | | C24 | Improve thermal protection of avionics tray | Complete | | | C25 | Change routing to flight computers | Complete | | | C26 | Replace sensor with more reliable units | Complete | | | C27 | Coat gimbal assembly with lubricant | Complete | | | C28 | Add pump pressure sensors to certain location | Complete | | | C29 | Add pump temperature sensors to certain location | Complete | | Booster reliability | C30 | Replace certain bolts, and increase torque for certain flanges | Complete | | improvement | C31 | New seal design for certain areas of booster | Complete | | | C32 | Add electric actuation system | Complete | | | C33 | Better manage engine bay pressure by increasing fire suppression capacity by | Complete | | | C34 | Change certain booster valve timing | Future Action | | | C35 | Add final leak checks for critical joints | Complete | | | C36 | Add support bracket for certain sensor | Complete | | | C37 | Add support bracket for certain sensor | Complete | | | C38 | Add check valves to certain areas of engine | Complete | | | C39 | Improve oxygen valve design | Future Action | | | C40 | Improve oxygen valve seal design | Future Action | | Raptor reliability | C41 | Improve design of hot manifold | Future Action | | improvement | C42 | Change nitrogen shutdown usage | Complete | | | C43 | Change engine shutdown logic | Complete | | | C44 | Increase capability for ground leakage mitigation | Complete | | | C45 | Redesign fire suppression system | Complete | | | C46 | Change conditions around bolts | Complete | | | C47 | Change timing of specific valve actuation | Complete | | Avionics reliability | C48 | Eliminate certain type of connector | Complete | | improvement | C49 | Redesign network architecture | Future Action | | Risk Process | C50 | Improve risk tracking process | Complete | | | C51 | Implement improvements to safety system | Complete | | Safety System | C52 | Verify flight safety system design improvements using additional type of test article | Complete | | | C53 | Verify flight safety system design improvements via analysis | Complete | | | C54 | Perform component testing | Complete | | | C55 | Review and improve operations surrounding flight safety system | Complete | | | C56 | Improve CAD controls | Complete | | Control | C57 | Add engineering walkdown | Complete | | Change | C58 | Improve use of change management system | Complete | | | C59 | Redesign of launch pad deck | Complete | | Pad Design | C60 | Improve assumptions for new pad deck design | Complete | | | C61 | Add water cooled pad deck | Complete | | Pad Design Process | C62 | Improve pad deck design documentation | Complete | | | C63 | Improve pad design process | Complete |
You can restore the "source" link using RES.
Reddit and Lemmy markdown are almost identical, so you should be able to copy it over with minimal formatting changes.
Thank you for the pointer. Fixed.