Successful Static Fire Leads to Final Preparation Before Full Stack

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Activities at Starbase are on full throttle as Starship flight five pulls ever closer. Major work has been completed on Launch Pad B, altering the skyline, glimpses of the future have been witnessed with the first-ever Block 2 starship, and Ship 30 completed a second static fire with full-stack testing on the horizon.

On July 15, Booster 12 successfully lit all 33 engines for a full-duration static fire on Starship Launch Pad A. Soon after, it was promptly raised off the orbital launch mount(OLM) on July 16 and returned to Megabay 1. While at the production site, a hot stage ring was spotted entering Megabay 2.

Using context clues, this hot stage ring is believed to finalize Booster 12 before SpaceX gives the booster its final go-over and brings it to the pad to be integrated with Ship 30.

Work Continues at the Launch Site

Launch Pad A is being prepared for Booster 12’s expected return to launch site (RTLS) landing on flight five. The original landing rail actuators are being removed from the arms and replaced by new actuators upgrading the system . The actuators on the chopstick arms are responsible for allowing the chopsticks to have a small amount of give when a booster touches down on them to protect the booster from damage.

Starship Launch Pad B is receiving extensive work to raise it from the ground up. In the last two weeks, tower modules two, three, and four have all been stacked. Concrete has also been poured into the tower base, solidifying the tower structure and lowering the center of mass.

Both the fifth and sixth modules rolled out to the launch site and are currently waiting to be integrated with the tower. According to a recent FAA document, the tower could be completed as early as Aug. 15 although it is more likely to be finished towards the end of August.

Tower section four prepares for stacking on July 22. (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF/L2)

A new larger version of the OLM has shown up in FAA environmental assessment documents. Also, underneath the new OLM, it is becoming more and more likely that a flame trench will become a reality due to the continuation of piles being hammered into the ground past where the OLM is expected to stand.

Sanchez Site

Deliveries are continuing to arrive at the Sanchez site. Launch Pad B’s shortened chopsticks reached Starbase on July 17 after a long trip from Roberts Road in Cape Canaveral. Then, the chopstick carriage, responsible for moving the arms up and down the tower, was delivered on July 18. 

The rest of the tower modules seven, eight, and nine are gaining the preliminary upgrades at the Sanchez site preparing them for stacking. The CC8800 crane will need to be reconfigured after the sixth tower section is stacked to elongate its length so it can reach the intended final height of the tower. 

Raptor Vacuum Engine 391 is brought into Megabay 2 for integration onto Ship 31 (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF/L2)

Production Site

Moving over to the production site, three Raptor Sea Level engines, R374, R376, and an unknown serial number, and three Raptor Vacuum (RVac) engines, R320, R376, and R391,  were seen heading into Megabay 2 for installation on Ship 31. It was then moved into the Highbay and has taken Ship 30’s old spot at the tile integration station. Ship 31 is receiving a very similar heatshield to Ship 30 with SpaceX’s focus beginning to fall on Starship’s survivability through orbit. 

Ship 32 was confirmed to only be a test article and will not fly according to a communications permit posted by SpaceX on June 21 which hints that the first Block 2 Starship will fly on the seventh flight. Ship 33, being the first Starship Block 2 variant, is continuing to be worked on in the Highbay. Many changes have been spotted like the new leeward flaps, brand-new tiles around the tip of the nosecone, and smaller heatshield tiles on the flaps. 

The payload bay inside of the Block 2 variant of Starship has shrunk adding around 300 tons of propellant space to Starship. While the internal volume has technically shrunk, it still holds an estimated 500 cubic meters of usable space. A Starlink dispenser payload bay door was also seen entering the Highbay and was installed on Ship 33. Then Ship 33 was moved from the Highbay to Megabay 2. 

The aft section of Booster 15 was rolled into Megabay 1, Looking over the top of the section, extra Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPV) were installed. This upgrade could already be in Booster 12 and if it is, it will help the landing of the booster by increasing the pressure in the landing tank to ensure the engines receive enough propellant and do not prematurely shut down.

Booster 15 aft section with extra COPVs installed (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF/L2)

A test article was rolled out to Masseys and placed on the test stand on July 19, Test Tank 16 is a Block 2 shift aft section connected to a common dome section. After cryogenic testing that did not include the can crusher system on July 25, Test Tank 16 was removed from the test stand and moved into the Starfactory. It is unknown if testing will continue on Test Tank 16 or if SpaceX has gathered all the needed data.  

Ship 30 Completes Major Test Operations

After the massive heatshield operation was finally completed on July 19, the static fire stand was rolled from Masseys to the production site, and Ship 30 was lifted onto the stand. On July 20, Ship 30 was rolled out on the static fire stand to Massey’s for a final firing due to the removal of a Raptor Vacuum engine. Then, on July 26, Ship 30 static fired all six of its engines for a full five seconds for a successful test. The upgraded heatshield stood strong on the static fire test with no tiles believed to have fallen off. Ship 30 was then brought back to the production site, put onto a transport stand, and moved to Sanchez to wait for the finalization and rollout of Booster 12 before heading to the launch site to be stacked on Booster 12 for final testing before launch.

The final Block 1 ships have the goal to complete the heatshield design and get Starship to reliably survive entry. So much extra effort went into changing Ship 30’s heatshield to gain more reentry data, which will then be integrated into the Block 2 vehicles, making for a more complete design. Full stack testing is set to begin any day now so flight five and the first-ever return to launch site landing of a super heavy booster could be under a month away from liftoff.

(Lead image: Ship 30 fires up at Masseys. Via SpaceX)

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