NASASpaceflight reporting SN9 will fly sometime today between 12 pm- 6pm CST.
Gonna be EXCITING, V3!!!
- Thread starter glhs837
- Start date
Supposedly they still have to remove fin tie downs and connect the FTS lanyards.
Although launch prep is continuing, wind looks like it could be a problem.
glhs837
Power with Control
I was reading that they expect the winds to diminish through the afternoon.
Launch scrubbed for today.
Hey @vraiblonde and @Monello. What's the weather like in SPI this morning? Hoping to see a rocket launch today.
Dense fog, not expected to clear up any time soon.
That's the problem with having your launch facility at Boca Chica: the weather is quite whimsical and there's no forecasting it with any reliability.
glhs837
Power with Control
Stay frosty, my little friend....... This is test tank, SN7.2. It's predecessor, 7.1, was used soley for pressure test to validate a new tank design. It popped a "small" leak under pressure, which was welded and testing resumed and passed. But it was only tested to the pressures needed for the next stage, the SN8 and SN 9 hop/flip/fall/flip/land. This new test tank is different in that it's believed to be the first hardware made of the custom alloy developed for Starship, and is 3mm thick, while the others were 4mm thick. The other units were made with 304L,, while whatever this new alloy is designated, nobody's said yet. This tank is most likely going to go through tougher testing, higher pressures and for longer periods.
Related notes:
Related notes:
- Whatever the final alloy is, that is what the Cyber Truck will be made of.
- A maor steel producer has recently annouced plans to build a major new facility near Austin Texas to supply both Tesla and SpaceX with that alloy in bulk.
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Sounds like no launch today. Still pretty windy there. 
Sounds like no launch today. Still pretty windy there.
Super windy.
Tomorrow is looking good, though.
glhs837
Power with Control
Not mixes, but sources. When falling horizontal, the fuel in the main tanks is laying on the bottom, which would be the side normally. That means it can't feed through the lines in the bottom of the tank. So they have a smaller "header" tank for wack kind of fuel that's kept pressurized just for landing.
glhs837
Power with Control
Ah, here's the fan made animation that shows it.
Whats happening inside the shiny steel rocket?
Thanks to this guy, we can show you. The blue is liquid oxygen, the red liquid methane. The two smaller tanks are "header" tanks that keep enough fuel for landing separate, since as you see, when the rocket enters "skydiver mode" the other fuel just rests in the bottom away from the feed lines...
forums.somd.com
Flight of SN9 scrubbed today because they didn't have approval from the FAA??? Weather looks great.
SN9 is on the launch pad, and SpaceX is rolling out SN10. Two Starships on the pad at once.
They couldn't have had a better day for a launch. Nice and sunny today.