SpaceX Catches a Super Heavy Booster During a...
- by NASASpaceFlight.com
- Oct 13, 2024
- 0 Comments
- 0 Likes Flag 0 Of 5
— Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) October 12, 2024
Ship 30 and Booster 12 Changes
Ship 30 will fly as the second stage for this mission and has been significantly upgraded over Ship 29, specifically with a new heat shield construction.
Due to the issues Ship 29 suffered during Flight 4, SpaceX replaced almost all of the tiles on Ship 30 with newer and stronger tiles. This will allow the tiles to withstand reentry and flight better.
The most significant change is the new secondary heat shield, an ablative material added under most pinned tiles in the most heat-affected areas. On ships like Ship 29, the setup used to be from bottom to top, felt, mesh, and then tiles. The new design is felt, mesh, ablative material, and then tiles.
Ship 30 Nose Cone Tile Work (Credit: Sean Doherty for NSF/L2)
The felt is an insulator that helps close any gaps between the tiles. The mesh helps hold down the felt, making it easier to install the tiles. The ablative material is believed to be pryon, a carbon composite-like material. This will act as a secondary heat shield should the tiles fail.
Another addition is using more gap filler material around the flaps and flap fairings to prevent what happened to Ship 29 from happening again.
Other additions include four new cameras that look directly at the flaps and cameras in the flap hinge that look directly at the point of failure for Ship 29’s forward flap.
Booster 12 changes with Ship 30 being Destacked (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF/L2)
In terms of Booster 12, there aren’t many noticeable visual changes. It is expected, as always, that teams have made hundreds of small internal modifications on each vehicle. Of the changes that can be seen, SpaceX has upgraded the last two Starlink antennas on the top of the chines, making all four the newer square design. Some new thermal protection was added to the bottom of the engine shielding.
For the catch, SpaceX has added tapered stringers over the chopstick stabilization points on the booster so that the new bumpers can slide up the booster during catch operations. These, plus the tapered stringers just below the lifting pins, have also been painted black so that SpaceX can see how the booster and chopsticks interact should a catch happen.
Orbital Pad A Changes
Along with vehicle changes, Orbital Launch Pad A has also seen changes. Almost all of the changes concern preparations for the catch. The only significant change unrelated to the catch is the removal of the Methane Recondenser vent, as crews continue to simplify the Orbital Tank Farm.
Crews have worked for months to add reinforcements to most of the chopsticks’ major weld lines. These will help strengthen the chopsticks’ structure and carriage assemblies ahead of catch operations.
Crews Installing Reinforcements onto the Chopsticks following testing (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF/L2)
Crews have also added newer compressable steel bumpers to the landing rails, replacing the older rubber-style ones that would get damaged during flight operations. Teams have also added shielding around the main chopstick actuators and their valve manifolds and shielding around most of the wiring, pneumatic, and hydraulic lines.
In addition, to make the landing rails capable of handling landing loads, more pistons were added to help cushion the booster as it lands.
Larger Gusset Plates Installed at the top of Tower A (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF/L2)
SpaceX has also upgraded the tower itself. Newer and larger gusset plates have been added near the top of the tower to help deal with the bending loads of catching. Gusset plates help connect the horizontal and diagonal truss beams for the tower.
SpaceX has spent tens of thousands of hours preparing the launch pad for this catch attempt.
The Catch
The big question about the catch is how SpaceX will complete this feat of engineering. Assuming the flight director gives the go-ahead to try for a catch, the booster will glide back to the launch site after the boost-back burn. Once it is about one kilometer above the ground, all 13 center engines will fire to slow down the vehicle quickly.
Once sufficiently slowed, the middle ring of 10 engines will shut off, and the booster will complete its descent with the center three engines. As the booster travels between the chopsticks, the sticks will start to close fast and “slap” the booster somewhere above the common dome. The booster will then slide down the new bumpers until the landing pins come in contact with the landing rails.
The landing rails will compress, absorbing the shock of the landing until they are fully down. Once this is all done, the chopsticks will use a pair of jackscrews to translate the booster and line it up with the stabilizer pins. After it is aligned, these will engage, and then the booster will begin safeing procedures.
After the vehicle is safe, the booster transport will roll to the launch site to take the booster.
SpaceX has been preparing for this moment for years, and it is an essential component of getting Starship fully operational. Pulling this off will be one of the most extraordinary feats of engineering and spaceflight.
(Lead image: Booster 12 being caught by the Tower Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2; L2 includes full res full collection of all photos taken by NSF photographers.)
Please first to comment
Related Post
Stay Connected
Tweets by elonmuskTo get the latest tweets please make sure you are logged in on X on this browser.
Sponsored
Popular Post
Tesla: Buy This Dip, Energy Growth And Margin Recovery Are Vastly Underappreciated
28 ViewsJul 29 ,2024