Starbase Infrastructure Advances Toward Flight 14

5 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

SpaceX is still building out assembly, test, and launch infrastructure at Starbase while Flight 14 hardware moves toward the pad.

New flyover footage shows work on structural test articles for this flight and later vehicles, plus construction at Massey’s, Gigabay, and Pad 1.

Ship 42 rolled out to Massey’s this past week for cryo-proof testing and completed both tests late on Sept. 3. It should now return to Mega Bay 2 for remaining work and engine installation. A static fire within about six weeks would match the timelines of recent ships.

The other major ship article at Massey’s is S43.1, in the supercrusher test structure. That article is built to load the header tanks, catch points, and other nose-cone hardware.

Two cryo-proof tests are complete: the first with an actuator on the bottom of the methane header tank, the second with an actuator on top of the liquid oxygen (LOX) header tank. Catch-point and flap-hinge tests are next.

The booster LOX landing-tank article has gone through six tests since Flight 13. The stand pulls and crushes the tank to match loads inside a LOX tank. SpaceX may be checking issues from that flight; that is not confirmed.

For the last few years, the site has used an LN2 farm built in the Ship 24 and Ship 25 era. To free space, SpaceX is replacing those seven smaller tanks with three 1,000-cubic-meter tanks. The LN2 vaporizer system is being rebuilt with them. It produces nitrogen gas for the farm and for vehicles.

Where three of the old tanks have already been removed, a continuous-flight auger has been drilling piles. The work looks like the start of a second Supercrusher cage. That would let the structures team run more than one cage article at a time instead of modifying older stands for each test campaign.

Gigabay has moved quickly over the last several weeks. The last major piece of structural steel is in place; only the roof joists remain. Where the frame is already complete, roof installation has started. Cladding is also climbing the sides of the bay as crews finish the concrete on each floor.

The next step is to close enough of the roof for the tower cranes to come down so those roof openings can be filled. While that work continues, crews are assembling one of the transfer aisle bridge cranes. Each bridge girder arrives in three pieces.

Two-thirds of each girder has been assembled at Sanchez. The trolley and tooling are being put together in the transfer aisle closest to Starfactory, and then the crane will be lifted into place.

Once the crane is in and working, Gigabay still needs work stands and platforms for vehicle processing.

SpaceX has built at least five ship stands. Three of them are still sitting by the rocket garden, waiting to go into the bay.

Pad 1’s reconfiguration has moved well over the last few weeks. The schedule should jump once the trench floor and ramps are poured. At Sanchez, first- and second-level pieces of the Pad 1 launch mount are already in place, and installation is underway. Each piece takes multiple welding passes to set.

The four main sections of the top-deck deluge plate are also at Starbase, though only one is visible outside. Those plates are unlikely to go on for a few months while crews finish the first two levels of the mount.

The mount is not the only Pad 1 hardware in work at Sanchez.

Crews are also building the pair of flame-diverter buckets, the ridge cap, and a new Ship Quick Disconnect (SQD) arm. The buckets are going together faster than last time because SpaceX prefabricated them in sections before delivery.

The new SQD arm is under construction nearby. SpaceX scrapped the old arm. It was the first SQD built for Starship, and modifying it would have cost more time than starting over.

On the pad itself, crews are still placing the rebar for the trench floor. That slab has to be heavy. The floor and piles must carry the launch mount, trench walls, diverter and supports, a fully fueled Starship stack, and engine pressure at liftoff.

Once the floor and ramps are poured, Pad 1 should save months versus Pad 2.

On Pad 2, the major pieces arrived one at a time. For Pad 1, most of that hardware is already beside the pad and already preassembled: trench walls up to the mount, mount legs, the A-frame, and the middle support for the buckets. Those trench walls will go in as large sections, not the small lifts used on Pad 2 and LC-39A.

If pad crews keep that pace, they may finish before the launch mount is ready and then have to wait on Sanchez.

Two other large items remain. The cryogenic propellant pipe trench has not started. The deluge pipe trench is further along: several large-diameter deluge pipes are already in the ground. That layout could mean Pads 1 and 2 will share the deluge farm now used only by Pad 2. That is a reading of the site work, not a confirmation.

Pad 2 and Flight 14

Pad 2 has taken a few upgrades over the last few weeks. The tower now has cladding on the launch-mount face, up to SQD-arm height. The likely aim is to shield the tower interior from exhaust and shock during a ship landing.

The tower also has a new LOX return line and vent. That vent will probably open only for the final system purge, in the same way as the drain lines on the launch-mount service structure.

At Sanchez, crews are assembling a new servicing structure for the mount. Once it is in place, teams should not need a scaffold floor after every launch. The SpaceX LR11000 would lift the structure onto the pad.

FTS Placards on Mega Bay 1 and 2

Pad 2 looks ready for the next flight. Ship 41 and Booster 21 have finished their required single-vehicle tests and are in Mega Bay 2 and Mega Bay 1 for final checkout. Flight Termination System (FTS) placards are visible on both bays, which indicates both vehicles now have FTS installed.

Next is a Starlink Version 3 payload load on Ship 41, then booster and ship rollout.

The new LOX return line on the tower could mean a short propellant load with both vehicles before the attempt. SpaceX may also go straight to a launch attempt. The current no-earlier-than date is still Sept. 15, from CADENA/COMPASS Space Operations planning slides, not an official SpaceX target.

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →