Hey everybody, welcome back to the Space News Pod. This is a show about SpaceX, NASA and spaceflight, and I'm your host, Will Walden. Now, don't mind the stuff behind me. We're moving houses, so there's a bunch of stuff that's being moved. There's boxes over here and there's like blankets and stuff. So don't mind that. But what we really need to talk about is the progress of Starship.
And it's really been heating up as Spacex's Starbase and the past week alone saw the unveiling and initial testing of the Raptor 3 engine. There's some spin prime testing for ship 30 and continued construction on orbital launch
mount. Now, simultaneously, SpaceX is preparing for its 5th orbital test flight while awaiting regulatory approval from the FAA, and that's with the possibility of attempting to catch the booster using the Meccazilla chopsticks on the tower down at Star Base in Texas. Now, ship 33, which is part of Spacex's next flight crew, is nearing full assembly.
It'll be the first Block 2 ship having 21 rings instead of 20 found on Block one ships, and the additional ring allows for approximately 300 extra tons of propellant, which could significantly enhance the ship's capabilities and the performance. Now, 2 remaining sections include the bottom liquid oxygen tank section and the aft engine section, which are each composed of four rims. Now, the recent debut of the Raptor 3 engine was a surprise to most Starship enthusiasts like myself.
I was like, where'd this thing come from? The engine set to replace the existing Raptor 2 on future Starship flights, and Raptor 3 is a refined iteration, with much of the external plumbing either internalized and hidden or completely eliminated, including regenerative cooling channels that are now integrated into the engine casing itself. You can't even see this stuff now.
This allows the engine to operate at higher pressures leading to improved performance while reducing the weight also and the need for support of the outside plumbing. Now Raptor One, which was used in early suborbital test flights and on vehicles up to booster four and Ship 20 generated 185 metric tons of thrust and weighed approximately 2080kg or 3630 kilograms with vehicle side commodities. Raptor 2, which replaced it, started from booster 7.
Ship 24 delivered 230 metric tons tons of thrust while reducing the engines weight to 1630kg or 2875 kilograms with additional hardware. Now Raptor 3 which is currently undergoing testing at MacGregor, well this engine is incredible. It promises 280 metric tons of thrust with a further reduction of weight to 1525 kilograms or 1720 kilograms when accounting
for vehicle side components. Now the engines design improvements, such as the removal of flanges and seals on the high pressure side enable it to operate at even higher pressures, enhancing its thrust capabilities. It remains uncertain when Raptor 3 will be integrated into any vehicle. More testing is likely to occur over the next month, which will require to validate the finalized design and the final product of this ship.
And on the operational front, Ship 30 underwent further engine testing last week, specifically a spin Prime test. The test was necessitated by the swap of a Raptor vacuum engine, with R 398 being replaced by R 384. Whoa, just hit that. Although the exact reason for this engine swap remains unclear, is not uncommon for SpaceX to replace engines before a new test.
Now, following the Spin Prime test, Ship 30 returned to the production site for final preparations, which include completing the heat shield and other last minute tasks. Now these steps are being taken in anticipation of Orbital Launchpad A becoming available and once they're both Ship 30 and Booster 12 will likely undergo a wet dress rehearsal, although the timing and the likelihood of this happening in the next week or so remain uncertain.
We don't know exactly when they're going to be doing this. And regarding the 5th Orbital test flight, SpaceX has indicated via X that both the Flight 5 vehicles, Ship 30 and Booster 12, are ready to go, and that is pending FAA flight approval now. However, past experience suggests that such statements they may be optimistic as there have been instances where the vehicles were not fully flight ready despite similar claims. It may take them a little while
to get this ready. And while awaiting regulatory approval for Flight 5, SpaceX has already commenced catch testing for the upcoming flight, possibly 5 or 6. Now, B 14.1, which is a booster used for these tests, has returned to the orbital launch mount for further evaluations. Meanwhile, Ship 31 is currently undergoing a heat shield overhaul similar to the work done on Ship 30, which is expected to occupy the High Bay tailing station for some time
now. Now, Booster 13 paired with Ship 31 has been stationed at Mega Bay One since completing cryogenic proof testing at April. Currently, a tent is erected over the forward Dome, indicating that significant work is likely underway. Notably, Booster 13 still lacks its grid fins, which is a huge component for controlling descent during landing. They need these things. And As for Orbital Launchpad B, construction continues to progress now.
The tower now has 6 standing modules, and the next three modules are being prepared for installation once the crane, which is undergoing reconfiguration, is operational once again. Now, crews are also reinforcing the tower by filling its hollow walls with concrete, which will increase the structure's strength. Now going forward, work on the suspected flame trench
continues. The flame trench didn't know there was going to have one as the teams drive sheet piles into the ground, which is expected to take several more months to complete. They're not going to be flying off this thing anytime soon. Additionally, the environmental assessment proposed released recently provides further insight into the structures development, though its final shape remains to be seen. We kind of get an idea what it's
going to be like, but not 100%. SpaceX has also been refining the landing rail system on the Meccazilla arms, replacing many of the linkages and upgrading the actuators to handle immense forces involved during a catch attempt of the booster. Now, these attachments and enhancements are crucial to SpaceX moves closer to catching the Super Heavy booster. This thing's 250 feet tall, and once it separates from the ship, it'll fly back to Starbase and then be caught by the arms.
Now for this attempt, SpaceX may conduct conduct more tests that we haven't seen much of where both arms of Meccazilla move in for a simultaneous closure, mimicking the forces of an actual booster catch. Now moving in like this, the test could be pivotal in ensuring the system's reliability during the next flight, possibly Flight 5 or
five. Flight 6. Now the issue to public advisory too for Flight 5 for possible Sonic booms during the upcoming Flight 5 test as it'll be the first attempt catch of the Super Heavy booster. Possibly post launch, possibly, I'm saying this possibly it's going to be 7 and 9 minutes after the launch and it'll be caused by the booster decelerating from supersonic speeds and it will create sort of like a Thunder sound.
If you've never heard it or felt it, it's pretty cool when a Falcon lands, it does a Sonic boom rumbles you. It's pretty cool. Now their experience with 330 Falcon rocket landing so far. So they know all about the Sonic booms and they're just warning people in the nearby area.
I mean it's a cool thing to happen and it goes pop pop. You know when they when they when they do a Sonic boom, it's like a big pop. But if there's two for a super heavy, not super heavy, but a Falcon Heavy, pop pop, 2 Sonic booms, very cool. When this giant booster comes back, it's going to be like, boom, it's going to be a big one. But they're still waiting approval from the FAA for this. And this is despite the existing license that's issued in June before the 4th flight.
SpaceX must seek a modification to allow the booster to land a starbase. They can't do this quite yet. There's new regulatory clearances that need to be done through the FAA, and the FAA also acknowledged that it is evaluating Spacex's proposed license to land back at Starbase for this 5th mission. And if they don't approve it, that's OK. SpaceX can do another soft water landing in the Gulf of Mexico and then possibly for Flight 6, they can come back to come back to the pad.
Now safety is the primary concern of course for the FAA during this whole process and if everything looks safe, there should be no issue with this at all. So please leave a comment down below when you think flight 5 will happen and also will they catch flight 5 booster at Starbase? Make sure to hit the subscribe and like button with maximum dynamic pressure. Dynamic pressure. What was that all about?
So you can get all the new Starship updates and please hit the, you know, while you hit the like button and the subscribe button, leave a comment and if you don't have anything quite about Starship to say, just leave a rocket emoji. I really do appreciate that. It helps out the algorithm a little bit. And also, you know, it helps out the channel a lot. So it helps me.
It helps you because when you do that, I was going to say SpaceX, but YouTube sees that you're interested in spaceflight and they'll continue to send you more spaceflight content in your feed on a daily basis. Not just from me, but from like other creators out there that are doing spaceflight stuff like SpaceX, NASA, other spaceflight creators. I've found so many spaceflight creators because I've done that. I've just saw someone out like, hey, that was a cool video.
I'm just going to give it a like, next thing you know, they're in my feed again, but also I get some rando that has really great content in my feed and I was like, how did that happen? That's why, because YouTube uses the algorithm to give you the things that you actually want to listen to and watch on YouTube. Imagine that. That's right. So let me know down in the comments. What do you think? Flight 5 or Flight 6? I don't know.
Again, we're moving, so all the stuff in the background, it's going to change in the next, I don't know, 20 days, 25 days or so. You'll see a whole new set, whole new everything behind me. Everything's changing, upgrading everything. So I want to say thank you to everybody who's been supporting the channel, especially members of the channel. Without you, I couldn't have done this, so thank you for that.
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