NSF - NASASpaceflight.com@NASASpaceflightThe Ship Quick Disconnect (SQD) arm for Pad 2 is being lifted.
Elisar Priel@ENNEPS18 months after work began on the Starbase Pad 2 tower at Starbase, the Ship Quick Disconnect Arm was lifted and installed into place, one more major step on the road to the pad becoming operational.
RGV Aerial Photography@RGVaerialphotosPad 2 as of yesterday's flyover! Starbase Weekly discussion is ongoing now on YouTube.
RGV Aerial Photography@RGVaerialphotosGiga nap
StarbaseTracking@TrackingTheSBStarbase This Week (2025-11-23) | Written By @TheCosmicNebu1aAn action-packed week where SpaceX decided to pull out all the stops, and an unfortunate event later in the week. Welcome to this week’s Starbase This Week.Production SitePad 2’s Ship Quick Disconnect (SQD) Arm was loaded onto SPMTs on Monday which was later transported to the Launch Site on Tuesday.Booster 18 was lifted onto its Thrust Sim on Wednesday and rolled out later that day. B18 was originally slated to roll midday on Wednesday, however this was delayed by SpaceX. B18 then rolled to Massey’s overnight on Thursday ahead of its Cryogenic test campaign.Ship 39 was also spotted being lifted onto the center work station on Wednesday after its aft was installed last week. S39.1 caught us all by surprise when it rolled out of the Starfactory (SFC) late Wednesday night. S39.1 spent a few weeks inside SFC for currently unknown reasons.After sitting in the Rocket Garden since March 2025, B17 had some of its COPVs (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels) removed before being rolled into MegaBay 1 (MB1) ahead of scrapping on Wednesday. B17 was originally meant to fly with S38, however due to the S36 ‘event’, it was made redundant. B17’s first operation inside MB1 was being cut in half on Thursday and then separated onto two work stands. Throughout the week, sections of B17 were seen leaving MB1 and heading for the scrapyard. On Friday, sections of the methane tank were seen leaving MB1.Launch SiteStarting off the week with the first of six OLM Legs toppled at Pad 1 on Sunday, with the second downed on Monday. The third and fourth were demolished on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. The first two legs were toppled directly from the base, however the other four were first weakened with a hydraulic jackhammer. It is unclear why this approach was taken, however the dynamic conditions and continuous modifications Pad 1 has received will have played a factor in SpaceX’s approach to demolition. The fifth and final legs were toppled on Thursday and Friday respectively. Thanks for everything, OLM 1!Pad 1’s Chopsticks also received attention, with one having its landing rail removed. From what has been observed so far, SpaceX seems to intend to shorten the Chopsticks in position, rather than removing the entire assembly and rolling it to Sanchez. Removal of ancillaries such as the landing rails is a requirement before the chopsticks can be shortened. This was then confirmed on Thursday when SpaceX hooked up a crane to the end section of the left chopstick where it was cut and released.Pad 2 was not spared from the action, with the “Ibeproofin” test structure being removed on Tuesday. “Ibeproofin” was for ensuring the hold clamps are aligned and for verifying they can withstand the forces put on them during flight operations. The Methane (CH4) Quick Disconnect also performed a retraction test on Wednesday. The SQD Arm arrived at Pad 2 on Tuesday, with workers rigging it to the LR11000 throughout most of Wednesday. The weather seemed to play a factor with workers seen repeatedly attempting to rig the hoist assembly. Early Friday morning, the LOX QD hood was removed for unknown reasons.The SQD arm was then lifted and rotated on Saturday afternoon ahead of being lifted up to the tower and installed on Sunday morning.Massey’sB18 was positioned on Thursday, ready for the first-ever Block 3 Booster Cryogenic test campaign. Activity was then seen at Massey’s on Thursday evening as SpaceX began a “gas system pressure test”. Unfortunately, this test was never to be completed as B18 experienced a sudden energetic event in the small hours of Friday morning. The LOX tank unzipped from around one of the chines and released any pressure it had built up, leaving in its wake a gaping hole in the side of the booster. It is currently unclear what exactly caused this event, SpaceX released a statement on X saying, “Booster 18 suffered an anomaly during routine gas system pressure testing… in advance of structural proof testing” later going on to say, “teams need time to investigate before we are confident of the cause”. There are several theories held by the spaceflight community; however, we are still waiting for SpaceX to investigate. The LR11000 was seen heading toward Massey’s with a load-spreader in tow on Friday.SpaceX then later released another statement on X on Saturday morning, with them saying, “The Starbase team plans to have the next Super Heavy Booster stacked in December, which puts it on pace with the test schedule planned for Starship V3” and “Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026”. B19 is the next booster in line, which will now have taken B18’s place for Flight 12 in 2026. On Saturday morning, the LR11000 and load-spreader were hooked up to B18. Later on Saturday, teams began work on cutting B18 in half, just above the common dome. By the evening on Saturday, B18 had been cut in half with the crane lowering the CH4 tank down to the ground shortly after 20:30 local. Teams would next connect the load spreader to the LOX tank ahead of scrapping.B18.3 also conducted its third Cryogenic test on Tuesday.That’s it for this week! Do you think SpaceX can still make Q1 2026 for flight 12? Will Massey’s ever be fully repaired?For real-time updates, join us in the Discord: https://discord.gg/ZbrSYPzDAqTo explore our maps yourself and track every movement, check out our Figma, now at both Starbase and Cape Canaveral:Starbase: https://figma.com/design/2AvC161FuB1VFNLUpAVAV2/Starship-Tracking---Starbase-Tx?node-id=0-1&p=f&t=4Pt2RTobhmM7jKAk-0
Elisar Priel@ENNEPSStarbase GigaBay Month OneThe Starbase Production has been full of action since the tower cranes rose up and the construction moved to the above ground stage. Over the coming months the entire skyline will be transformed
MattZ@wvmattzOnly one day since installation, the Pad 2 SQD arm has already been rotated under its own power! Next step will be for the remaining structure (the part that will attach to the ships) to be installed, hopefully before long!
Zack Golden@CSI_Starbase·Started the Stage Zero 2.0 flame trench deep dive about 7 months ago while simultaneously working on other topics. But I’ve been 100% focused on it for the last 4 weeks or so. Still discovering new things literally every day, but the research/script writing phase is nearing completion. I get the feeling I won’t be able to cover this topic in less than 90 minutes. I haven’t looked at the current word count yet…but I’m pretty sure I know exactly what I will discover if I do lol. As far as modeling the system in order to be able to explain details using renders and animations, I think it will be on par with the Starship Flame Trench episode. But Ryan and I spent more than a year working on that, and @lewisknaggs42 has had less than 3 months to do the same thing for a much larger system 🤯Despite the short timeline, I think we are going to be able to pull it off.In summary, I’m really excited for the next episode in the “How It’s Made” series.
Zack Golden@CSI_StarbaseFor those who will inevitably suggest I split it into multiple episodes, this is technically part 4 of a 5 part Stage Zero series. I have no plans of breaking it into even smaller parts.
Stephanie @StephanieBAlex @ahRyan @rweb11742
StarbaseTracking@TrackingTheSBStarbase This Week (2025-11-30) | Written by @KangasSpacerooWell, quite the quiet week, eh? Something going on in the US? Plenty of action still occurred this week, so lets get down to business. Welcome to this week’s Starbase This Week.Production SiteOut of all the sites this week, the Production site probably saw the most action this week.B17, which never got its chance to fly, was cut up into sections inside Megabay 1 (MB1) and moved to the scrap yard over the course of two days. So long, maybe B18 will succeed your legacy… oh wait… maybe B19 will.Speaking of B19, in the effort to get it stacked in December, sections began to roll from Starfactory to MB1. The A2:4 section, which consists of the upper part of the oxygen tank, was the first to roll on Monday. The common dome section, CX:3, would roll out the next day and be stacked, making B19 seven-ring sections tall, or A:7. Taking a break on Thursday for the observation of Thanksgiving, the middle section of the oxygen tank, A3:4, would roll on Friday. B19’s A4:4 section would roll overnight on Sunday. At the rate they are progressing, assuming nothing goes horribly wrong, SpaceX should be able to stack this vehicle within a couple of weeks and be ready for testing at the beginning of next year.Taking a look into the Starfactory, S40's nosecone moved from Cell L to Cell M, hopefully being ready to be moved into Megabay 2 (MB2) to start its stacking process.Lastly, at the Production Site, S39.1, which is meant to test the redesigned V3 AFT, rolled out of Megabay 2 over to Massey’s for testing.Massey’sSpeaking of Massey’s, B18’s destruction continued with the upper half of the oxygen tank being cut off and set to the side for further scrapping. The sections remaining consist of the A4:4, A5:4, A6:4, and AX:2, along with half of the downcomer. The rest of the vehicle should be taken care of within the next week or so.S39.1 also arrived for testing.Launch SiteAs we had touched on briefly last week, the Pad 2 Ship Quick Disconnect (SQD) arm was installed onto Tower 2 on Sunday. That same day, it would perform a small test to verify it was moving correctly. On Monday, a second hinge test was performed and appeared to go nominally. The arm is nowhere near being ready for a ship to be stacked on top of a booster, let alone the Pad itself supporting a booster, as it still needs the extension and SQD plate as well, but those should be installed fairly quickly after it is done with the installation of electrical cables, cryo, and high-pressure pipes.Also at Pad 2, the Liquid Oxygen Booster Quick Disconnect hood was reinstalled after being removed on Friday of last week. We think it was removed to install shimming and sealing hardware that was lying around the pad, but that hardware has not been installed yet for either BQD. So don't be surprised when both BQD hoods are being removed again.Not wanting to be left out of the action, Pad 1 received some modifications for the chopsticks ahead of supporting V3. New pushers were spotted, which will be installed as soon as the chopsticks are fully chopped down. Speaking of chopping down, on Tuesday, the right chopstick was also trimmed down to match the left stick.Well, that’s all the action for Starship on this Thanksgiving Week here in the United States.
Travis Sorensen@HardcoreElectr1Pump Up The Jam.
Over at the ASU - Large pumb is deliveredhttps://x.com/HardcoreElectr1/status/1996685481975992367QuoteTravis Sorensen@HardcoreElectr1Pump Up The Jam.
ChromeKiwi@AshleyKillipImpressive piece of equipment for the new ASU (air separation unit) at Starbase a large compressor. It looks like using a single bull gear in the middle it can run 3 seperate pinion shafts this gives them ability to run 6 compressor stages for multiple air supply's at different output pressures. Cool shot from @HardcoreElectr1
Quote from: catdlr on 12/04/2025 08:13 pmOver at the ASU - Large pumb is deliveredhttps://x.com/HardcoreElectr1/status/1996685481975992367QuoteTravis Sorensen@HardcoreElectr1Pump Up The Jam.
How can I increase the amount of air #compressor #MAC outlet?1.Increase the amount of cooling water or lower the temperature of the cooling water to improve the quality of the water to reduce dirt. 2. Regularly service and clean the cooler, remove dirt, and ensure the cooler heat exchange effect to reduce the gas temperature. 3. Improve water heaters to discharge condensed #water in a timely manner. 4. Improve the maintenance of the air filter to reduce the intake resistance and ensure the intake pressure. 5. Strictly maintain the checkpoint, master the seal gaps in all places, and reduce the leakage losses.Why does a centrifugal compressor produce vibration?1. The rotating speed is close to the critical whirling speed; 2. The rotation is not well balanced; 3. The electric motor and the compressor are not compatible; 4. The bearings are damaged; 5. Improper operation causes wheezing; 6. The oil temperature is too low; 7. The foundation is not strong or the ground foot screw is loose; 8. There is standing water or solid impurities in the shell.Why does the moisture content of the air decrease after it is cooled by direct contact air-cooled tower water?Before the air is compressed into the empty tower in the air compressor, the amount of water in the air has reached saturation. The amount of saturation in the air is only related to temperature. When the air is cooled and cooled in the empty air tower, its saturation vapor pressure decreases, and the moisture content naturally decreases.What are the main methods of expansion machine regulation?Pre-air flow reduction reduces the amount of refrigeration by reducing the pre-air pressure.2、The nozzle can be adjusted by changing the amount of expansion without changing the pressure.3、Adjust the speed of the expansion machine by adjusting the pressure surface load.for #ASU requirements and RFQs Contact me 🌱WhatsApp: https://alvo.chat/6Q0m
