When we first rolled Spica's propellant tanks, the two joining edges were left flat to ensure even alignment under our long seam welder clamps. Since we have welded them together, last week the tanks were rolled again - making them perfectly round & ready to weld on bulkheads! 🚀
We're baffled (almost)! Going from a raw steel plate to four dozens of cut and folded anti-slosh baffles in a single afternoon really makes us appreciate our CNC plasma cutter. These will sit on the inside walls of Spica rocket's propellant tanks, anti-sloshing LOX and ethanol.
If you guessed yesterday that our first VBPM (Very Big Part Mobilizer) will be used for propellant tanks, you were correct! It is the first big internal logistics piece for the SPICA rocket. More VBPM's to come when needed - for the engine section, space capsule and other parts.
To help water test and measure the mass flow of the BPM100 engine coaxial swirl injector, a frame for a 1m3 water container has been welded, painted and equipped with load cells. A few seconds with the injector running and bath will be ready. 😉
As we waited for a few delayed orders which are needed to finish Spica propellant tanks, we welded, threaded and painted the 6.1 meter/20 foot-long Very Big Part Mobilizer. It will mobilize the propellant tanks once they are finished, pressure tested and strain hardened. 🚀
The first bulkhead skirt frame for the Spica propellant tanks in preliminary alignment, prior to a tad more processing for a nicer fit, and finally - welding. The plywood underneath the bulkhead is not a surface plate, but more precise measuring tools were used for the final fit.
Can anyone spot any Apollo 1 related trivia somewhere in this picture of Thomas connecting the Spica space capsule prototype sections together, after the smaller extension shell had a fresh layer of paint? 🤓🚀
Comment if you agree that clamps do not get the recognition they deserve and are your best friends. This support/interface ring for the propellant tank bulkhead would not have been welded without them.
Remember when we said we love clamps? Great, we just wanted to reiterate that.This time they were helping Jon weld the side panels of the Spica propellant tank bulkheads. Six panels make one dome complete and when they're all done the bulkheads are ready to go onto the tanks! 🚀
Biancas drone for testing software of Spica's BPM100 engine gimbal is now on its drone-feet!
A closeup of the shiny, smooth swirl injectors we received from Anton Häring last week. They can hardly wait to be soldered, inspected, tested and fired up in our BPM5 rocket engine, which flew on the Nexø II rocket 2 years and 1 day ago! 🚀
Our Crewed Space Capsule prototype is back on its VBPM (Very Big Part Mobilizer) after its extension section got painted and we are working on a detailed work breakdown structure for all the tasks needed inside and outside of it.
(mod)I am not sure that discussing this here (or even posting updates) is a good idea. Leave that for other sites. This is not our focus. CS have said the same thing, stay focused on rockets and leave the investigations to others.If you strongly disagree, press the "report to mod" button and make your case, maybe I'll be overruled... but I will be deleting further updates about Madsen, without further comment or warning.
We (primarily Bo) have been spending a lot of time analyzing dozens of coaxial swirl injectors under a microscope for the past few weeks. From inspecting individual machined part quality, to our soldered joints, things are looking good to say the least!