It’s essential to have fun at work, right? Let me introduce you to Sir Gantry, the crane! This giant mustache appeared on one of the gantry cranes.
It is almost impossible to get an engine section picture of booster 8 inside the mega bay, so we do not know precisely how many engines SpaceX has installed so far, but there shouldn’t be many slots left.Īnd SpaceX is already utilizing the gantry cranes installed inside the mega bay, and, as usual, there are more Easter eggs to be found.
Spacex will hopefully launch first orbital full#
Hopefully, in preparation for a first full static fire, engine installation has been going on for a few days now. Booster 8 has been inside for some time now, and SpaceX uses the Mega Bay as if it was already finished. It’s not even finished yet, but already operational. Mega bay construction, another critical puzzle piece for the future of Starbase, Texas, is continuing at a fast pace as well. SpaceX will need a total of 40-50 of those trucks to fill the orbital fuel farm up for a launch, but these trucks are likely for static fires. More and more methane tanker trucks keep arriving at the launch site. Likely carried up with booster 8, it has a much higher chance of carrying more than just one test payload if Ship 24 performs well. It would already be the second orbit-capable Starship ready for a launch. To get into business and do full deployments, they need more Starships. Maybe, with a big maybe, one Starlink satellite to test deployment, but very likely not a complete payload section full of expensive satellites. Ship 25 is making equally fast progress! My guess right now is that Ship 24 won’t carry an actual payload. At Kennedy Space Centers Pad 39A, though, launches for Starlink will be much easier.Ī 6th one is already in the making, and SpaceX only needs 8 to build a second Launch tower at Pad 39A. To place Starlink Satellites into orbit, you need a good launch trajectory, which is hard to get at Starbase, Texas. That likely is the entire reason why efforts at Cape Canaveral are progressing so fast as well.
The satellite hardware is already done, waiting at Starbase to be sent to space, and Musk now needs Starships to fly. The Starlink v2 satellites are much larger and essential for the Starship program. Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, just released another interview with Elon Musk, and he stated what I’ve been speculating for months.
And Falcon 9 simply isn’t capable of sending the v2 satellites to space.įirst samples of the new satellite hardware are already at Starbase, and so for SpaceX, every day wasted is wasted money. This is what will pay for the whole Starship program. I’ve talked about this many times before. Starship’s most important payload is grounded unless Starships make it to orbit. Around 7 meters long and 1250 kilograms heavy. The latest deadline is May 31st, and SpaceX wants to be prepared as much as possible. SpaceX expects a favorable FAA decision regarding the ongoing PEA shortly. More and more sources are speaking it out loud. SpaceX is moving fast in preparations for its upcoming orbital flight tests.