Space Update 20th may

Today’s post probably won’t be very long, but we have some SpaceX updates, then Boca Chica, another SN4 static fire, SN5, and some SN6.

Starting with the Starlink-7 launch which was meant to liftoff yesterday but has been postponed once again. This time, SpaceX announced it won’t be happening until after the Demo 2 mission has flown.

 I’m pretty sure this is due to the droneship turnaround time which if I’m not mistaken is around 8 or so days. Also on the talk of droneships, Just Read The Instructions is getting an octagrabber soon. You will already know OCISLY has one, but you can see in this great shot by Julia Bergeron that the new grabber is almost complete. On top of this JRTI has been doing sea trials of its newly installed thrusters, so we could see JRTI put back to use soon. 

On another demo 2 note, the Crew Dragon capsule that will carry the astronauts has arrived at the Cape. Here’s a great image of the vehicle being rolled into the hangar at the LC-39A launch pad. The recent SAOCOM-1B launch which was postponed a month ago due to the pandemic has a new date. Apparently it will now launch no earlier than July 7th. 

With the latest SpaceX updates covered, here is a scrap bulkhead that SpaceX have been working on. I’m not sure why they’re working on it, but it’s assumed maybe for practicing. It was sleeved with a 2 ring stacked section that is not designed to be used for flight. However, the ring stack also says for use with Cory’s taco dome, so not sure who Cory is. 

I’ll show you in Boca Chica is work going on with the high bay. You can see here engineers are working to install what appears to be more lights onto the roof struts. 

Now, let’s take a look at SN4 which is still sitting on the test stand. You will all know that Raptor SN20 was recently installed. On Sunday 17th, SpaceX performed a successful preburner test of the new engine. We were hoping for a static fire shortly after but that didn’t happen. However, yesterday, they did a static fire of SN4 and SN20, which appeared to be a success. Although once the dust started to clear it was evident something went slightly wrong. As you can see here, there was a little fire at the bottom of the vehicle caused by what looks to be a broken pipe. This raises the question of what will happen with the hop, or even if SN4 will do a hop now?

Here is a tweet from Michael Baylor confirming that we’re not too sure of the next steps for this prototype. As I said, this video won’t be too long due to all the testing and hence very few updates, but let’s see SN5. 

Not much has been happening with the tank section but here is the latest view of it in the high bay. The new nose cone we saw recently and thought was for SN6 has been rolled out of the tent with built in thrusters. There is also a note on this nose cone which says “medium section SN5”. What’s also been spotted is a new section sitting beside SN5’s tank in the high bay. Whilst it could be assumed that this section is the start of the SN6 stacking phase, it’s also assumed that this could be the missing piece between the nose cone and the tank for SN5. 

Here is the latest build diagram from Rafael, SN5 is getting so close to being ready for testing, and I can’t wait! The final thing for SN5 is a potential hop. 

You can see here that Michael Baylor tweeted about a new filing to the FAA for a 3 kilometer hop. The start date for the testing is June 4th with a hop expected shortly after that and it’s being assumed this is for SN5. Finally onto SN6 which is still progressing. 

You can see here that recently the thrust section was rolled out of an onion tent. However, it was then rolled into another onion tent for further work to be done. I’m going to guess that SN6 thrust section sleeving and stacking is not far away at this point.

 

As always, a massive thanks goes to Mary BocaChicaGal.

Next update is in the sunday