Where is Fred Dibnah, when you need him?

Professionals don't cheer when a rocket goes bang. Or is that from a licenced Professional? Bloke or commercial payload on board?

They do when they half expected it to blow up on the pad.
This was a test flight, nothing on board.

Professionals don't cheer failures. Elon wasn't.

What other metrics can we use to measure professionalism? For me an important one is how much time and money it takes to get to an end objective. Based on that it is too early to tell for starship, but we will see.

Lots of early falcon failures yet it seems SpaceX are the professionals people go to for orbital launches.

Nobody is cheering at anybody. They have come a long way and they will move ahead. This is actually their strong side: A big apparatus, say NASA, is much more risk aware and moving ahead only slowly to avoid failures. Here is just one guy paying for it and he wants progress. High risk means big steps ahead. This is what happens now.

​​​​​​​After @elonmusk's tweet about the water-cooled plate, I started looking at the parts visible on-site and was able to figure this much out using accurate dimensions. Some parts are still missing but it's looking like this will be a combined system for deluge and pad cooling.…

A win, as excavation to add these has now already been done.

[A bit like reporting your elderly neighbour to the police that he has a body buried in the back garden, as a favor to save him the effort to dig the garden up himself]

This is a fair point - also important to remember that the Starship and Super Heavy vehicles they used for this test flight actually weren't all that refined. TPS full of gaps, etc. The newer TPS solutions on the newest Starships look infinitely better.

Models and simulations can only go so far before they need to be validated. But there will certainly be a lot more pressure on SpaceX now to nail the second OFT. If we don't see a perfect performance from the booster, there'll be many more heads turned. Certainly since Raptor should be performing a lot better than it is, though that could certainly be down to concrete flying everywhere and Stage 0 having some hiccups.
Fool me one, shame on you...

👀👀👀

During Elon’s twitter space he confirmed that FTS (Flight Termination System) was triggered and it took roughly 40 seconds for it to destroy the vehicle.

“The FTS system will need to be re-qualified before the next launch attempt”

Just for fun, I spent most of the day with our #Starship Flight Test 8K footage, tracking and stabilizing frame by frame (Auto tracking just couldn't handle it) from the Flight Termination Charge to explosion just to see if we could learn anything else. Shot by @considercosmos..

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Elon Musk Twitter Spaces discussion on SpaceX's first Starship launch.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...410935808.html
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Here's a view from behind the fuel storage tanks.

At the end of a football match, if the team has battled hard but still lost, the crowd still cheers at the end of the game. They weren't cheering the destruction of the rocket, they were cheering the success of achieving a launch and the hard work the team had put in to get it that far. Also, remember, the SpaceX team is made up of very young professionals. They behave very differently to more mature folk like you and I 'probably' are.

Almost fixed already…

Super busy at the Starbase launch complex today. New doorway cutout in the Orbital Launch Mount. New stairs, scaffolding, interior work and OLM foundation work.

Earth Movers Excavate Under Orbital Launch Mount🚀

For the past few days at the #SpaceX #Starbase Orbital Launch Mount (OLM), earth moving machines have been excavating, clearing out, the crater under the OLM. They seem to want to dig it out before further work.

Water cooled layer for under the OLM made from the plates we have seen being built already with all the pipe work under and around the formwork this could channel water to other rain birds or diverter pipes.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....21603ea8c.jpeg
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@elonmusk confirmed what I have been speculating for the past few days during #Starship Spaces tonight. The water-cooled plate will not only provide a strong surface but also a "showerhead" deluge system. Holes across the surface will release water aiding in sound suppression.

Pile driving machines showing up to the launch complex today. Now the real work begins….

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​​​​​​​There have been many questions and concerns about the water-cooled steel plate that is planned to be installed under the OLM. I’ll go over some details about it in this thread and maybe ease some of the concerns. There will be some speculation in this towards the end. (1/n)

First priority to get renewed flight clearance….
t appears that SpaceX may have performed a Flight Termination test on the Booster 6 test article. This rupture occurred near the common dome. The test article was filled with water and likely pressurized to flight loads.

No way to confirm the details yet.

👀👀👀

​​​​​​​Raptor test firing into a water cooled steel plate 🔥

Musk says next test flight in 6-8 weeks…

So, about 3 months then?

Ship 25 completes a six-engine static fire test at Starbase in Texas


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4d781c5c16.png
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First section of water cooled steel plate being lowered into position inside the OLM…


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2b06de5a5.jpeg

What's the latest estimate for the next launch attempt? It's gone a bit quiet lately. End of August at the earliest?

OLM Water Deluge System manifold moved for installation with the steel plate!

SPMT’s are currently under B10 for rollout later tonight.

(To the engine test site, not the OLM)

B10 on the move.

​​​​​​​About 20 of these MOVAC water tankers have arrived to the Launch Complex today. Typically these are used to remove water, not deliver it. However we believe SpaceX has begun to fill the water tanks for the Super Heavy Booster Bidet.

Not sure why that would be needed this early

Testing probably.

Musk:

Looks like we can increase Raptor thrust by ~20% to reach 9000 tons (20 million lbs) of force at sea level and deliver over 200 tons of payload to a useful orbit with full & rapid reusability.

50 rockets flying every 3 days on average enables over a megaton of payload to orbit per year – enough to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Purge test of the now installed water spray system…

Superheavy rolled out to the launch pad - next launch as early as this summer (unless the environmental groups have their way):
SpaceX rolls Starship Super Heavy booster to launch pad for testing (photos) | Space
See SpaceX's next Starship Super Heavy booster on the pad (photos) | Space

Booster 9 is fully loaded. Very smooth opening test on the OLM for this upgraded Super Heavy Starship booster.

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After initial activation, a full-pressure test of the new Starship flame deflector is planned for Friday

WOW! Full Starbase OLM Water Deluge System Test.

**HEADPHONE WARNING!**

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I'm wondering how far the upper plate gets thrown by the steam pressure from the heating and erosion of the upper misting plate. hope they used good chewing gum. I am a fan of F9, F9 Heavy, and certainly entertained by starship, but the use of this site for this energy level just because the personality involved is not interested in dealing with the US ACE's requests on compliance is sad. As a system, parking this stacks upper on an unprepared surface on the moon or Mars, and then taking off again from the same surface seems to have some rather large risks. From a prepared, elevated pad self inflicted injuries occur, how's that going to play out on a rocky unprepared surface? Apollo had many great concepts...

The only part that will launch from the moon or Mars is the Starship upper stage, the booster is only used to escape Earth’s gravity.

Some cool video of the first full pressure test. Camera was up above looking down.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023...testing-phase/

Starship Booster 9 and launch infrastructure moving into critical testing phase

After last week’s testing of Booster 9, the water deluge system, and other important activity at Starbase, the Starship program is now moving into a critical testing phase where Booster 9 will begin static test firings of the Raptor engines with the water deluge in use.

Large test windows have been posted, starting Friday – likely pointing to the dual events on separate days, from the Spin Prime test requirement, ahead of a Static Fire test with an unknown number of engines.

Booster 9 was lifted onto the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) on Thursday, July 20, after it was rolled out to the orbital launch pad from the production area of Starbase. A large amount of work was done at the OLM and launch pad area prior to the proof test on the booster, which is slated to fly on the next Starship launch.

On Sunday, July 23, Booster 9 was filled with liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen – in the methane tank – for what SpaceX billed as a propellant loading test. Both tanks reached full capacity as a booster was tested on the OLM for the first time since the eventful Starship first flight on April 20….

Meanwhile, at the former Massey’s gun range now converted to a SpaceX test site, Ship 28 was moved there for proof testing with cryogenic fluids on Friday, July 21. On the same date, Booster 10 was moved out of Massey’s, arriving at the “rocket garden” by the production site after midnight on Saturday, July 22.

Ship 28 was seen with frost lines on its liquid oxygen and methane tanks, after having been loaded with cryogenic fluids on Friday, July 28. The ship, equipped with fins, tiles, and a payload bay, is now expected to roll back to the production site to have its Raptor engines installed, assuming the test was successful.

This ship is expected to be used with Booster 10 on the third Starship test launch….

Another recent test article is one with a hot staging ring in between an aft ring for the ship and a top section of a booster. This was rolled out to Massey’s on Sunday, July 30 for structural testing.

A hot staging ring will be added to Booster 9 and future vehicles to simplify the stage separation procedure during flight.

While Ship 28 has been undergoing its own preparations for flight, Ship 25 has had missing tiles installed and has been connected to a crane for a future lift.

Ship 25 is being prepared to fly atop Booster 9 for the upcoming second Starship test flight…..

Booster 9 completed a flight-like chill and spin of the Raptor engine pumps in advance of static fire.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7bf48dfcb.jpeg

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