Quote from: wannamoonbase on 11/17/2025 03:45 amQuote from: OTV Booster on 11/16/2025 06:37 pmSurmise: SpaceX is confident in booster reuse and plans on expending and/or retiring ships in the near future.Also, that they seem reasonably confident that booster refurbishment won't take long.The path to re-flying a given booster multiple times in a single month seems imminently achievable (with true rapid reusability not that far off). Meanwhile, even once they are consistently catching ships, the refurbishment and requalification work is certainly going to be significant in the beginning. And even once they've caught enough to understand the scope of work required and made improvements in the most glaring trouble-spots, it's very likely that ship refurbishment will always be more intensive than booster refurbishment.If a booster requires a week to refurbish, and a ship requires a month, then they'd need about four times as many ships as boosters. My guess is that the refurbishment ratio is even larger than that, and the only reasons why there is more than one ship and/or fewer ships in production is that they need backup boosters in case of losses and they don't want to lead too much in ship production to allow for design changes. (That and limits on space)
Quote from: OTV Booster on 11/16/2025 06:37 pmSurmise: SpaceX is confident in booster reuse and plans on expending and/or retiring ships in the near future.Also, that they seem reasonably confident that booster refurbishment won't take long.
Surmise: SpaceX is confident in booster reuse and plans on expending and/or retiring ships in the near future.
Quote from: meekGee on 11/17/2025 05:10 amQuote from: wannamoonbase on 11/17/2025 03:45 amQuote from: OTV Booster on 11/16/2025 06:37 pmSurmise: SpaceX is confident in booster reuse and plans on expending and/or retiring ships in the near future.Also, that they seem reasonably confident that booster refurbishment won't take long.All that, but you want to have one spare, since if a returning booster aborts conservatively (and soft touches within the dump site) they should be able to fly again immediately, if they have that spare.True that.Booster reuse may not yet be perfect, with a lot of room for refinement in performance and reliability, but it's mostly a done deal. Now to get ahead of the curve and always have an extra.
Quote from: wannamoonbase on 11/17/2025 03:45 amQuote from: OTV Booster on 11/16/2025 06:37 pmSurmise: SpaceX is confident in booster reuse and plans on expending and/or retiring ships in the near future.Also, that they seem reasonably confident that booster refurbishment won't take long.All that, but you want to have one spare, since if a returning booster aborts conservatively (and soft touches within the dump site) they should be able to fly again immediately, if they have that spare.
Quote from: sstli2 on 11/20/2025 05:29 pmQuote from: Rakietwawka2021 on 11/20/2025 05:27 pmNew skirt is 12 wideWouldn't you just move to a larger diameter tank at this point?I've been asking the same question about Starship for years. (I hate that it's not 10 meters in diameter)
Quote from: Rakietwawka2021 on 11/20/2025 05:27 pmNew skirt is 12 wideWouldn't you just move to a larger diameter tank at this point?
New skirt is 12 wide
StarbaseTracking@TrackingTheSBOvernight S39.1 rolled out to Massey's ahead of testing.
Cyberguru@CyberguruG8073Starship Hardware Diagram (2025-11-25 - 2025-11-28)Booster 18 Scrapping Continues!Visible Changes:Ship 41 Receives Other Forward FlapB19's CX:3 Rolled Into MB1 Misc:We can expect Ship 40 to start stacking in the coming weeks!@NASASpaceflight | http://nsf.live/starbase
ChromeKiwi@AshleyKillipMore angles of booster 18. In the middle is the main fuel transfer tube for methane we can see internal stiffeners /stringers also an access ladder. Sitting to the upper right is the new dedicated LOX header tank for landing and its associated pipe work to feed the outer 10 and center 3 clusters of engines. Amazing photo from @RGVaerialphotos
Amy@mymatrixplugBooster 18 Forward Dome sitting front stage at Massey’s.
Cyberguru@CyberguruG8073Starship Hardware Diagram (2025-11-28 - 2025-12-04)Happy December!With Booster 18 still being scrapped...Noticeable Changes :Booster 19's A3-A6:4 rolled into MB1Ship 48 has finally been spotted!Ship 46 has received both headers
StarbaseTracking@TrackingTheSBTonight, TT18 (S39.1) rolled back to the production site from Masseys.Minutes after this clip, it was moved back to Sanchez, where it now sits.SpaceX never sleeps.
Cyberguru@CyberguruG8073Starbase Tracking FounderNSF WriterNSF SBL Camera Operator3D Modeler (Blender)127 Following383 FollowersFollowed by StarbaseTracking, Lewis Knaggs, and 2 others you followPostSee new postsConversationCyberguru@CyberguruG8073Starship Hardware Diagram (2025-12-13 - 2025-12-21)Bringing in New Diagrams!The last section of Booster 19 (F3:4 / Forward 3) has rolled into Megabay 1Ship 39 has also received its racewaysAll hardware spotted with cameras from@NASASpaceflight | http://starbase.live
Erik Fraser@efraser77A short barrel section with stringers at the top has emerged from Starfactory this evening and is sitting in the ring yard. Is this the reason for tonight's road delay?
Erik Fraser@efraser77It appears the answer is yes. The barrel did a lovely pirouette in front of CP11 and is now about to hit the road.
StarbaseTracking@TrackingTheSBA two-ring barrel section with a can crusher interface is rolling down HWY 4 to Massey's.
@TrackingTheSB and @NASASpaceflightLooks like this will sit on B18.3 and test the integrated hot stage truss
Travis Sorensen@HardcoreElectr1Tonight's Rollout.
Marcus House@MarcusHouseInteresting. This has mounts for the can crusher cap, so should mount to the top of B18.3 for hot stage testing.
