This thread probably, next thread perhaps less likely?

Starbase activities (2024-05-16):

• LR11000 crane is hooked up to remove a remaining portion of GSE-2 outer tank.
• Build site video tour: Parking garage construction continues, Starfactory cladding is nearly complete.
• S29 & B11 partial tanking test: NSF livestream. GSE venting (ship methane subcooler), B11 CO2 tank venting, LOX subcoolers venting, tower venting, (alternate angle), frost on ship and booster, depress vent, and road open. NSF timelapse.
• Cryo deliveries continue.
• Tower segment 2 of 5 preps for rollout from Brownsville to Starbase. Additional photos: Doherty, LabPadre, Gomez

Starbase activities (2024-06-14):

• Jun 13th addendum: B15 LOX barrel arrives outside the Megabay.
• Build site video tour: Work on B15 LOX barrel. Unusual water fountain/deluge test.
• S30 tile removal continues. Starship Gazer video.
• Tower B: Overnight, three wall section panels are staged near the tower corners which were erected the previous day.
• The first crossbeam is added between the tower corner sections.
• The first wall panel is installed and reinstalled a short while later.
• Continuous flight auger (right) continues work nearby.
• CC8800-1 crane assembly continues. All three main winches are installed.
• Massey’s: B14.1 “hat” is removed.

Starbase activities (2024-06-15):

• Tower B: Overnight, corners 3 and 4 are erected. Starship Gazer photo 1, photo 2.
• CC8800-1 hook block arrives.
• RGV Aerial posts photos of Pad A aftermath, Massey’s flame trench, S30 scaffolding, Pad B construction, and a six-year side-by-side comparison of the build site.
• Starkitty sighted :)

IFT-5

• Booster catch NET late July, per Elon.

Starbase activities (2024-06-13):

• Overnight, the 10 launch mount hold-down clamps which were removed are replaced. The first and second booster stabilization pins are reinstalled on the launch mount.
• Parts for the CC8800-1 crane continue to arrive. Aerial photo of assembly from a couple days ago.
• Chopsticks: Landing rail on the (anatomical) left chopstick (house right) is raised and lowered. The same chopstick later swings slightly. The sled on the other chopstick is fully extended.
• Tower B: Corner 1 of 4 is erected (wide shot, closeup 1, closeups 2, closeup 3). Corner 2 of 4 is erected not long after (closeup).
• The barge carrying the remaining tower hardware rounds Florida’s tip on route to Brownsville.

Other:

• FAA licence modification followup: “The FAA’s most recent license modification approval for Starship Flight 4 allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile. If SpaceX decides to change the mission profile or make other changes that affect the safety analyses, it will need to request a license modification.” It is unclear if a booster catch attempt would require a modification to the launch licence.
• Twitter thread from Benedikt summarizing the foundation for the new tower: Tweet 1, tweet 2, tweet 3, tweet 4, tweet 5, tweet 6, tweet 7, tweet 8, tweet 9, tweet 10, tweet 11, tweet 12, tweet 13, tweet 14. u/TwoLineElement’s corrections are noteworthy.

Starbase activities (2024-06-16):

• Morning photos of the launch site from cnunez: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5
• Tower B: Wall panel installation continues. (alternate angle photo from Doherty)
• CC8800-1 crane assembly continues. Derrick is raised.
• LR11000 moves towards the old orbital tank farm.
• Peek inside Starfactory and Megabay 1.
• S30 tile removal continues.
• New Ringwatchers article on the B14.1 test tank.
• RGV Aerial spots a thrust ram which hints at a 5-10-20 arrangement of engines for a 35-engine booster. For context, the current boosters have 33 engines in a 3-10-20 arrangement. Render and analysis from mcrs987 (TheSpaceEngineer), along with speculation on landing burn engines and redundancy.
• Opinion: I think the 3-engine landing burn looks plausible with differential thrust, but I’m not sure if the 2-engine landing burn would work. You’d have to gimbal the engines to point through the center of mass, and land with the vehicle tilted a la SN5 and SN6. Could the chopsticks compensate for that?

Starbase activities (2024-06-02):

• Jun 1st addendum: NSF timelapse of stacking, and ship transport stand rolls away from the OLM.
• Launch site: Excavator is lifted. Work on pad 2 is progressing (closeup of tower foundation rebar).
• Starship Gazer photo of the full stack, and closeup of missing tiles on ship.
• ‘GATEWAY TO MARS’ sign is loaded onto a trailer as ‘ƧRAOM⅄⊥AGAEW’.
• Build site: Ship lifting jig is loaded onto an SPMT and enters Highbay. Nighttime photo of Starfactory from cnunez.
• Recent RGV Aerial photo of entire build site.
• Starkitty sighted :)
• S26 still at Massey’s.
• New Ringwatchers diagram is posted. Parts spotted for S36, S37 (Starship v2), B16, and B17. Tweet with additional list of updates.

KSC

• Final tower segment and both right and left chopstick arms leave the Roberts Road site and arrive at the turning basin. Max Evans video.

Starbase activities (2024-06-09):

• Relatively quiet day.
• Overnight, B15’s A3 section enters Megabay.
• Some sort of security exercise occurs.
• Work on OLM and chopsticks continues.

IFT-5 info from Elon:

• Launch NET one month from now.
• S30 heat shield to be replaced with tiles which are twice as strong, and adding an secondary ablative protection.

Apologies for the delay. Starbase activities (2024-07-05):

• July 4th addendum: Tower section #1 moves, likely to clear space for lowering of the CC8800-1 crane.
• Previous day’s cryo delivery tally
• Pad B: A corner “foot” is removed and reinstalled on the tower base. Another removal and reinstallation later in the day. NSF alternate angle photo.
• CC8800-1 crane is lowered. The LTR 1220 crane retracts not long after.
• July 6th road delay (00:00 to 03:00) is posted for transportation operations “from Massey’s to Production Pad”.

Other:

• Closeup of S30 tile removal process. “Simple tooling to make this fast and repeatable”, is in the works, per Elon.
• Flight 5 in 4 weeks, per Elon. This gives us a new NET date of Aug 2.

Starbase activities (2024-06-07):

• Comparatively quiet day.
• R-vac #390 arrives at the Highbay again, is lifted into the Highbay this time, and S30 is lowered onto the engine.
• Launch mount work platform returns to the launch site. Post-launch inspections have already begun.
• Another horizontal tank arrives.
• RGV Aerial post-launch flyover photos of the launch mount.
• Road delay for booster transport to Massey’s seems to have been rescheduled for Jun 11th 00:00 to 03:00.

KSC:

• NSF complete timelapse of barge loading and departure.

Other:

• Recent Ringwatchers article is updated with new info on changes to the nosecone and aft sections.
• Mary posts a photo of the camera which gave us such great views of the right fore flap.
• FAA is assessing whether a mishap investigation is warranted. IFT-4 could be the first full stack flight which does not require one.
• Older Starships to be moved close to the fence for photo ops.

Starbase activities (2024-06-11):

• Jun 10th addendum: Crane begins removing OLM clamps.
• Elon replies to Tim Dodd with info on how the orbital launch tower held up: “No major damage”
• Pad 2: Overnight, the continuous flight auger drill is reerected.
• Parts for the CC8800-1 crane continue to arrive: A steady stream of 30+ trucks labelled “Sarens” arrive at the launch site (trucks 31 and 32). The current LR11000 crane slews and begins laying mats on which to build the CC8800-1 crane. Zack posts an… article? on Starbase crane logistics.
• Build site: S30 heat shield removal begins.
• Starkitty is sighted :)
• Massey’s: S26 is lifted from test stand to onto transport.
• Road delay for “booster” transport to Massey’s seems to have been rescheduled for Jun 12th 00:00 to 03:00.

KSC: Zack highlights notable points in the environmental impact statement for LC-39A, and posts additional thoughts.

• 35 booster engines, 9 ship engines
• Up to 44 launches per year with both pad and drone ship landings
• Separate catch and launch towers
• Liquid methane, LOX, and LN2 produced on site.
• 3.8 megalitre water deluge planned, 2.5x larger than current Starbase deluge.

Starbase activities (2024-07-04):

• July 3rd addendum: S31 completes another cryo test (minimal loading on each tank). NSF timelapse comparison.
• Previous day’s cryo delivery tally
• LR11000: Overnight, the crane rolls away from the location of the old tank farm. In the afternoon, it is lowered to horizontal.
• Pad B: Tower section #1 is on the move.

Other:

• SpaceX posts an IFT-4 recap and flight 5 teaser video. Final shot indicates booster RTLS on flight 5.

Starbase activities (2024-06-08):

• Jun 7th addendum: LR11000 crane is reerected.
• Overnight, LOX barrel for B15 arrives. (closeup)
• Engine install stand and raptor stand move from Highbay to Sanchez. No further imminent engine swaps on S30.
• New cryo tank is parked at Sanchez.
• Second steel corner section for the base of the new launch tower arrives at the launch site.
• Tower foundation work continues.
• S31 is lifted and possibly moved onto a different stand.

KSC:

• The barge carrying the remaining tower hardware departs Port Canaveral, and is on route to Brownsville.

Other:

• SpaceX releases WB57 and buoy video of B11 landing. Buoys likely placed by GO America. I hope the Dassault Falcon 900EX got similar footage of ship landing.
• Booster landing was on target, ship landing was several km off due to flap damage.
• Plans for booster catch attempt on next flight progress from “I think we should try” to “next landing will be caught”.

Starbase activities (2024-06-06):

• Jun 5th addendum: R-vac which arrived at Highbay leaves. An R-vac is removed from S30.
• Overnight, cars to the pad.
• Mary evacuates, OLM and tower venting (ViX, NSF), frost on ship (ViX, NSF), engine chill,
• IFT-4 happens :)
• Jun 7th and 8th road closures are revoked. No surprises there.
• Road delay for booster transport to Massey’s is posted for Jun 8th 00:00 to 03:00.
• Post-launch photos of the pad from Starship Gazer and Jack Beyer.

IFT-4:

• Liftoff, hot staging, hot stage ring jettison, booster splashdown (landing coordinates), ship coast phase, reentry and partial flap disintegration, ship splashdown is confirmed.
• Chopsticks slowly close shortly after booster splashdown.
• Clear shot of disintegrated flap hinge. (annotated)
• Flap hinge was an anticipated weak point, and will be addressed on newer ships by shifting the flaps leeward.
• A WB57 was near the booster landing location, and a Dassault Falcon 900EX was near the ship landing location. RGV Aerial performed a flyover in the afternoon, likely to the booster landing location. Hopefully these planes got some good footage.

KSC:

• Barge which is carrying the chopsticks and remaining tower segments departs, but hasn’t gone far yet.

Other:

• SpaceX confirms that the missing heatshield tiles are intentional experiments.
• ViX tally of recent cryo deliveries to the Starbase orbital tank farm.
• Current orbital tank farm will supply both launch pads.
• Booster catch on IFT-5 is a possibility, per Elon.

I need to get some sleep, and you probably should too :)

Starbase activities (2024-06-12):

• Overnight road delay for “booster transport to Massey’s” turns out to be “S26 transport from Massey’s” (ViX, NSF). Local Sheriff tweets after transport occurs.
• Another LOX barrel for B15 arrives at the Megabay.
• S30 heat shield removal continues. (Full Starship Gazer livestream)
• More tower corner pieces arrive.
• Parts for the CC8800-1 crane continue to arrive: Boom sections, other parts (crawler tracks?), cab section. The LR11000 rolls over to move crawler tracks.
• Tank farm plumbing repairs and replacements continue.

IFT-4/IFT-5:

• No mishap investigation: “The FAA assessed the operations of the SpaceX Starship Flight 4 mission. All flight events for both Starship and Super Heavy appear to have occurred within the scope of planned and authorized activities.”

Starbase activities (2024-05-30):

• Better video of S29 moving away from the tower the previous day.
• Overnight, B14.1 test tank moves to Massey’s.
• LR11000 crane and continuous flight auger move away from the pad in preparation for IFT-4.
• Flight termination systems are installed on both S29 and B11 (photo, video)
• LN2 vapourizer is removed from the old orbital tank farm. Corresponding cryo pumps are removed as well.

Elon tweet on heat shield tiles: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1796049014938357932

Unless we make the heat shield relatively heavy, as is the case with our Dragon capsule, where reliability is paramount, we will only discover the weak points by flying.

Right now, we are not resilient to loss of a single tile in most places, as the secondary containment material will probably not survive.

I will explain the problem in more depth with @Erdayastronaut next week. This is a thorny issue indeed, given that vast resources have been applied to solve it, thus far to no avail.

Tim Dodd confirms Starbase tour to be filmed before IFT-4.

Starbase activities (2024-05-17):

• Build site video tour: Parking garage construction continues, Starfactory cladding now looks complete.
• Remaining section of GSE-2 outer tank is removed. This is followed by the lift of a small excavator.
• Suborbital site deconstruction: Small methane tank is removed from the suborbital tank farm. This is followed a few hours later by the removal of a large methane tank, which is pending transport. NSF 5-day timelapse of deconstruction.
• New road closures posted for May 20th through 22nd, 5:00 to 17:00, amended from an original 8:00 to 20:00 closure.

Interesting statement by the FAA to NSF regarding IFT-3 mishap investigation:

https://x.com/BCCarCounters/status/1791600893151821827

Statement of FAA provided to @NASASpaceflight about SpaceX led investigation:

“If the FAA agrees no public safety issues were involved in the mishap, the operator may return to flight while the mishap investigation remains open, provided all other license requirements are met.”

https://x.com/BCCarCounters/status/1791611426991157438

NSF followed up with the question if this would mean that a positive outcome of this investigation would mean the launch license will be modified before the mishab is closed?

The FAA answered: “Yes, provided all other license requirements are met.”