SpaceX, Discussion about SpaceX and all the progress they help to achieve. Options

[Skygazer]

For those who are new to who SpaceX is, they are a privately owned Company that builds reusable rockets. As well as they just Recently launching some of the first Krypton powered satellites, and are hoping to hopefully bring humans to Mars.

SpaceX

[Skygazer]

It has been a busy year so far in 2021.

so much is happening in the development of things at SpaceX
having 8+ months of progress to update will take a bit, but trust me, it's well worth it.

So much progress in fact that I'm posting this an estimated 2 weeks before a huge milestone.
The worlds Biggest & first fully reusable Rocket has been under development. out in the desert in south Texas for about 2 - 3 years in total, & in the planning Stages since at least 2010.



It may take a bit of time, but let me explain.

A little over 2 years ago, some cameras set up and watched by local SpaceX enthusiasts, started noticing a small Metal Silo Being built a few miles from where SpaceX had some tents set up.

Further Research showed that a water tower company was hired to make a silo.
Over time, more and more parts came in, some strange legs where put on the sides. they started thinking, "this is a pretty strange looking water tower"

Suspicions where rising & ideas about what it was where being thrown around . . .



Then SpaceX Put a Rocket Engine on it . . . and we kinda knew then what we where watching.




And then they flew it. . .





We soon Learned this was the very first prototype of a new Rocket, A Fully Reusable Rocket System that used to be known in early Development as BFR - Or Big Falcon Rocket.

Nowadays its known by a different name, sounds alot like something from Sci-Fi. . .



Simply Called: STARSHIP



Over the Next 2 years leading up to today when i make this post, Development still continues. Slowing Stepping up the pace from the last Piece of Development that came before it. The first Prototype we saw was only the start.

The first Prototype would come to be known as Starhopper or Hoppy by the community.

Further models where built in the coming months, so many in fact that a naming system was needed.

Prototypes of the main Rocket where built in such a way as to test parts slowly, not adding extra complexity to the program, sometimes missing main parts altogether if not needed for said test Vehicles current Tests.

The chosen naming system was Serial Number # (# being the current number for the prototype)
Shortened to SN#




After Starhopper, 4 test vehicles where built, testing things such as:
tank pressure needed for higher stress loads . . .

increased Structural Integrity on the underside of the Rocket where engines where installed, later to be known as the thrust Puck . . .

& many smaller things tested, such as welding techniques or the build process for the Rocket in general needing improvement for further production.


SN5 was the next SN to fly at all
(Other then SN4 Which was pushed to failure during a cryo-Test, Where Cryogenic Fuel is pressure tested inside. After Being pushed to failure the Tank ruptured and sent the Vehicle upwards. so technically It flew before SN5)

(SN5 150 Meter Hop Liftoff)


(SN5 150 Meter Hop)

SN5 had a mass simulator installed atop the Rocket in the form of Sheet metal (metal brick on top)
This Simulated mass would later be the nosecone for the rocket.



One more Vehicle would fly using a mass Simulator, SN6 was the last Nosecone-less SN to Fly.


Which brings The Update back to when I last posted.

In December of 2020, SN8 Became the first Full Starship

(Starship SN8 High Altitude Test Flight Liftoff)







Although It did not stick the landing, Starship SN8 was the first to prove that so many things could be done that had never been done before.

Namely:
The "belly flop" Technique
Flip and land attempt

Just to name a few, SN8 had hundreds of improvements over "older" Serial Numbers.



SN9 Was next up, flight was perfect, landing was . . well . the landing was a hard thing to get.

in fact, SN10 was the closest to landing successfully, actually it did. Here is a link to SpaceX official Recap of that flight.

Although SN10 was the first Starship to land, anywhere from 8 - 15 min after landing, SN10 Exploded on the landing pad.

Later thought to be caused by heat buildup from a fire that couldn't be extinguished under the engines.
It could have possibly been put out if the water could get under SN10, but the landing legs where crushed by a little to hard of a landing.

SN11 flew, but did not even get to land, it blew up out of site of the cameras. in the fog in high Altitude
(The one time they launched in the fog we missed what happened - _ - )



Due to Production advancements, SN12 - 13 & 14 Where skipped due to basically being outdated hardware compared to newer SNs. so they where disassembled.

SN15 Was next up.

Having Already made hundreds more improvements with SN15 then SN8, things looked good.

After long anticipation, on May 5th, Starship SN15 Became the first to fly to high Altitude & Successfully Land AND Not blow up even after over 4 hours on its own on the landing pad.

You can watch The full flight from SpaceX Here




That was still over 3 months ago, and I feel like the real excitement has only just started.

First, let me explain more.

Starship is Going to be Fully Reusable, meaning once it's built it can do alot of work. but . . .
It's only a part of the whole.

Starship Refers to a Reusable System, which consists of not one, but 2 Stages.

(Stages in this instance refers to a section of a rocket, first stage being the top, and second stage being the bottom, some rockets use up to 3 or even 4 stages to escape earths gravity)

so, as i said. Starship Refers to the Rocket in its full stacked form, bottom & Top, but when These Separate The top or First Stage is Still called Starship, but the bottom stage, or Booster Stage, has another name when apart from Starship.

SUPERHEAVY



The Superheavy Booster is . . . Well, its got its name for a reason, at the time of writing its "dry-mass" or weight without fuel in it, is over at least 130,000 Pounds.

And every time i read these numbers i cant remember them because my brain cant understand.
Super Heavy alone stands 230 feet (70 meters) tall
When Starship is stacked Atop Superheavy, it adds another 165 feet (50 m)

Bringing the Total Full stack Rocket to a height of 395 Feet (120 M)

There is still so much data and neat tidbits that I'm leaving out, but I'm trying to get to why I want to make this update in the first place.



The height matters more in this post due to what is next, See, stacking it is its own thing. and they are making something to make it faster, Safer and all around better to use, even in wind as Recently stated by Elon Musk.














The Orbital Launch Tower.


Still currently being built as you will see in later pics.
This tower should be able to Stack Starship Ontop of SuperHeavy When it gets its parts together.

We also recently learned that it is also being built to catch the Booster out of Mid-air whilst it lands.

Just stay with me.

Booster 2 was the first Booster to be built, but was not moved from production site.
and was only built to pathfind production for future Boosters.

Booster 3 or B3 was the first Booster to be rolled out to the launch pad, yes you heard me right, i kinda forgot to say this but SpaceX's Production site is 2 miles from the Launch Site.

Makes sense you don't want to blow up ur factory with a failed test.

Thing is, that means they move everything they make & Test, from the production Site onto highway 4 & down to the launch pad.

Making for some really funny looking Sped up footage. 2 hours sped up into 1 min Looks like This


Next up was B4

It was Stated by Elon Musk on Twitter that This would be the First orbital Ready Booster.
Shows how fast they are really moving since we have not even had an Orbital Ready Starship Yet.


But Orbital Ready means it needs the other half of the Rocket. So as you may have guessed, they have been building the First Orbital ready Starship alonge with B4


I Present to you, B4 & SN20!

(B4 in the highbay)



(B4 Engine Section, filled with 29 Raptor Engines. Middle 9 are Gimbling Sea Level Engines, Outer 19 are Fixed Sea level Engines)




(Starship SN20 Rollout to Orbital Launch Pad)




(Starship SN20 Engine Section with 6 Raptor Engines. middle 3 engines are gimbling sea level engines, outer 3 are Fixed Vacuum Engines)



Orbital Launch Table being placed









Now we are up to date with the last few weeks and to the end of July 2021. only 7 days worth of progress left, should not take that long(I hope)



The past 7 days have been mad.

Probs best i just show it mostly in image form.








B4 Rollout to Orbital Launch pad



B4 Picked up by crane and Lifted Above Orbital Launch pad




B4 Being Lowered Onto Orbital Launch Pad



Starship SN20 Getting ready to stack on B4




And Finally . . .

The Moment we have all been waiting for . . . . . .




The Stacking Of the biggest Rocket in Human History.



















Althought only A fit test, Starship was fully stacked for about an hour befor SN20 was rolled back to production site for the last 2% of the work it needs done.




This is where everything sits as of writing this post. 2 weeks until SN20 is at least finished.

SpaceX are going at a breakneck speed that we have never seen in the spaceflight industry.
But they only intend to go faster, the Production site is just that. but they intend to build an entire factory for building these rockets.

This will be the rocket SpaceX intends to bring humanity to mars with.



We are possibly 2 weeks out from the first ever orbital launch of a Starship stack.

The chances of everything going well are >95% in my opinion.

I'll do my best to post if i can a for sure Launch time.
Until then,




Here's to the Future of Space travel,
to all the dreams of going to space.

and to all the future holds!


~Skygazer