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SpaceX’s next-gen Falcon 9 spied continuing tests in Texas

Published

7 years ago

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Awaiting the first static fire of SpaceX’s newest upgraded Falcon 9, known as Block 5, local observers and SpaceX fans alike have been on high alert ever since the first booster (B1046) went vertical at the company’s McGregor, TX facilities on Feb. 26.

Preparing for a suite of tests ahead of its inaugural launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, B1046 has been quiet in Texas for much longer than most Falcon hardware. Much like the additional static fires they complete at SpaceX’s launch facilities, boosters are meant to spend less than a week or two on the static fire test stand in McGregor – several days to set up, a few days to complete the static fire, and several days to validate the data gathered and ensure that the hardware is still healthy. 1046, however, has remained vertical at the TX test stand for a bit more than three weeks, and only appears to have ignited once for very brief (~1s) firing around two weeks ago.

 

According to photos taken by Reddit user HollywoodSX, the booster is still vertical at the stand as of March 20, and is now sporting what looks like an odd splotch above its relocated “SpaceX” logo. At this point, it can be assumed that SpaceX is cautious with significantly new Falcon 9 hardware, carefully testing a booster with fairly new structures, heat-shielding, Merlin 1Ds, and an array of additional refinements.

Perhaps the first static fire attempt was scrubbed prematurely; perhaps it was intentionally brief to check out startup parameters for all nine Merlins; or perhaps it began as a wet dress rehearsal (propellant loading test) that proceeded into an ignition test. More probably, however, the first routine static fire attempt likely uncovered some minor bugs in the booster’s new hardware or design, signified by the fact that B1046 appears to have remained vertical for the entire interim period. Had serious problems been uncovered, the rocket would have been brought horizontal and taken inside SpaceX’s on-site facilities for in-depth analysis, disassembly, and repairs or modifications.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgfboKIB17H/

Moreover, SpaceX shipped another Falcon 9 booster out of its Hawthorne, CA factory on Monday, March 19. Barring something far outside the norm, the above booster is almost certainly B1047, better known as the second-ever Block 5 first stage. 1047’s shipment would all but guarantee that 1046’s testing is progressing largely as planned. If there were, in fact, major issues with the rocket leading to unplanned delays, 1047 would almost certainly remain at SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory until the problems with the booster in McGregor could be properly characterized. If repairs or modifications had to occur, Hawthorne is a far more convenient and optimal environment to complete them, and delaying shipment would also avoid unnecessarily taking the risk and wasting the week or so it takes to prepare and ship the rocket cross-country.

All things considered, Block 5’s inaugural flight appears to be moving forward slowly but surely, and anyone with interest in aerospace is eagerly awaiting its first flights. As of March 18, the satellite – Bangabandhu-1 – is still in France, awaiting confirmation from SpaceX of T-15 days to launch before shipping out to Florida. Tentatively scheduled for launch NET April 5, that date would appear to need SpaceX’s confirmation today – any later and the launch is likely to be delayed equivalently.

Up next for SpaceX is the fifth launch for Iridium Communications, NET March 29 from California. Days later, SpaceX’s next reused Cargo Dragon mission (CRS-14) is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX’s Florida LC-40 pad on April 2. Both launches will feature sooty, flight-proven Falcon 9 boosters and will be covered live by Teslarati’s photographers Pauline Acalin and Tom Cross.

Follow us for live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and a sea of beautiful photos from our East and West coast photographers.

Teslarati   –   Instagram – Twitter

Tom Cross – Twitter

Pauline Acalin – Twitter

Eric Ralph – Twitter

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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SpaceX and Elon Musk explain potential reasons for Starship loss

Published

2 months ago

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January 17, 2025

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk are starting to shed some light on the potential reasoning for the loss of Starship yesterday, which was lost after a successful launch and catch of the lower-stage booster.

Starship was lost during its ascension, and debris rained down over the Caribbean less than an hour after SpaceX lost all communication with the spacecraft.

A few hours after the launch was over, SpaceX started to shed some light after looking at preliminary data that the rocket left behind.

The company said that a fire developed in the aft section of Starship:

“Following stage separation, the Starship upper stage successfully lit all six Raptor engines and performed its ascent burn to space. Prior to the burn’s completion, telemetry was lost with the vehicle after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight. Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean within the predefined hazard areas.”

Additionally, Musk said that there was some sort of oxygen or fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.

The leak was evidently large enough to build more pressure than the vent was able to handle:

Some also seemed to recognize evidence of fires throughout the flight of Starship, which is obviously an anomaly:

There will be more information regarding the loss of Starship in the coming days and weeks, but Musk already believes that a bit of fire suppression and more volume in the cavity above the ship engine firewall could fix the issue.

“Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month,” he said, so Flight 8 could happen sometime in February.

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Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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SpaceX completes second catch of lower stage, but loses Starship

Published

2 months ago

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January 16, 2025

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX completed its seventh launch of Starship on Thursday, accomplishing a clean liftoff and catch of the first-stage booster. However, the upper stage was lost after its ascent.

The launch took place just a few minutes after 5 p.m. on the East Coast, as the first attempts at getting Starship in the air for the seventh time were delayed by weather both last week and this week.

Conditions were favorable on Thursday as SpaceX looked to follow up a successful campaign by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s company, earlier today.

SpaceX went into the seventh Starship launch with plans for a catch attempt of the first-stage booster, something it attempted and completed during the fifth test launch last year. It decided to skip a catch attempt with the sixth test flight as conditions were not aligned.

For now, SpaceX is extremely selective as to when it attempts catches.

However, it was successful during this attempt, its second completed catch:

This flight differed from previous launches as SpaceX rolled out several improvements to the rocket and the processes as it featured plans to do a Starlink deployment simulation and had various adjustments to flap placement and avionics.

These plans were disrupted by the fact that SpaceX lost all communications with Starship about ten minutes into the flight, which the aerospace company confirmed was a result of losing the spacecraft sometime during its ascent.

Although the catch was successful, the loss of the actual rocket seemed to be a huge damper on the entire event. SpaceX confirmed several minutes after the loss of communications that the rocket was destroyed and was lost.

It was its first failure since the second Starship launch in November 2023. SpaceX had no answers for why the rocket was destroyed and lost.

We will keep you updated in the coming days.

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Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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SpaceX confirms next Starship launch target – Here’s when it will take off

Published

2 months ago

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January 9, 2025

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spacex starship upper stage catch
Credit: Elon Musk | X

SpaceX has confirmed a new target date for the seventh Starship test launch after weather in Texas delayed the first scheduled date for “three or four days.”

The company is now targeting the launch for Monday, January 13, at 4 p.m. CST or 5 p.m. EST. The launch date is not set in stone as any variety of delays could impact this, but SpaceX hopes to finally take off after a delay that pushed it back from January 10.

What’s new with this Starship launch

With this being the seventh test launch of Starship, there are several things that the company will change and hope to accomplish. All of these launches are done in preparation for eventually taking flight to Mars, something that will happen next year, according to CEO Elon Musk.

First, SpaceX is rolling out a next-generation ship with “significant upgrades.” Forward flaps have been made smaller and are repositioned away from the heat shield, which will “reduce their exposure to reentry heating.”

SpaceX eyes 25 annual Starship launches starting next year

There is also a 25 percent increase in propellant volume, a new fuel feedline system for the Raptor vacuum engines, and a better-than-ever propulsion avionics module that will control the valves and reading sensors.

Avionics, as a whole, underwent a redesign and now have more capability and redundancy for missions as they become more complex.

Starlink test

SpaceX is also planning to deploy 10 Starlink simulators that are similar in size and weight to the next-generation Starlink satellites:

“While in space, Starship will deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.”

Ship return and catch

There will be several experiments that have to do with returning Starship and various catch scenarios and sequences. One of which will see “a significant number of tiles be removed to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle.”

The ship’s reentry profile was also intentionally designed to test the structural limits of the flaps while at the point of maximum dynamic pressure during reentry.

Currently, SpaceX did not detail whether it would attempt another catch during this test launch. These are usually game-time decisions.

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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