SpaceX Texas launch site Discussion and Updates - Thread 12

[catdlr]

Upcoming RGV Aerial photography Livestream:

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Video:

https://twitter.com/vickicocks15/status/1841107075453063289

Section of OLM2 spotted outside the build site.
@LabPadre #R1

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1841136986431594770

Two corner segments for Pad B Orbital Launch Mount has been delivered this morning.

NASASpaceflight

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1841508171103244319

Potential parts for Pad B's OLM arrived were lifted by a crane at the Sanchez Lot, Ship 30 was destacked from atop Booster 12, and hardware for future ships and boosters was visible inside the Starfactory.

➡️youtube.com/watch?v=Zy328H…

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1841604598999466158

SpaceX is packing away the huge crane CC8800-1 at the launch site...

nsf.live/starbase

[edzieba]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1841604598999466158

SpaceX is packing away the huge crane CC8800-1 at the launch site...

nsf.live/starbase

Points the needle more towards the 'mobile launch platform' theory if they don't need the big crane to lift a fixed OLM into its final position.

[SDSmith]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1841604598999466158

SpaceX is packing away the huge crane CC8800-1 at the launch site...

nsf.live/starbase

Points the needle more towards the 'mobile launch platform' theory if they don't need the big crane to lift a fixed OLM into its final position.

I don't agree with that. The boom is still up on the crane and I think they are packing up the parts they no longer need. If the launch mount is a fixed mount they have two heavy lift cranes on site to do the lift (they did that for the first launch mount).

I do like the thought of a mobile launch mount that that they could swap between launches.

[rsdavis9]

I see the launch mount at masseys and that is a fixed trench and then the mobile carrier is positioned over the it.

So for a mobile launch platform does anybody have pics(sketches) of what it looks like?

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1842997385930375359

Mary (@BocaChicaGal) spots two pieces of the new Launch Mount deck for Orbital Pad B. The hollow structure suggests a water-cooled deck, as we have suspected.

nsf.live/starbase

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1843064002802548862

Oh, hello. @NASASpaceflight

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/rgvaerialphotos/status/1843646095181918526

Do you want the good news or the good news?

1. OLM-2 launch table spotted at Sanchez! Comparison v.s. OLM-1:

2. The FAA has posted the second NOTAM for S30's splashdown in the Indian Ocean starting on October 13!

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1843738077656953141

Two more huge launch mount parts arrived in Starbase just now. I’m told there are six more just like these on the way. @NASASpaceflight

[cabeese]

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1843738077656953141

Two more huge launch mount parts arrived in Starbase just now. I’m told there are six more just like these on the way. @NASASpaceflight

Looks like ten of these would make up the ring of a mobile launch mount and the 'square' part would make the base.

[catdlr]

https://x.com/thejackbeyer/status/1843738077656953141

Two more huge launch mount parts arrived in Starbase just now. I’m told there are six more just like these on the way. @NASASpaceflight

Looks like ten of these would make up the ring of a mobile launch mount and the 'square' part would make the base.

Interestingly, the sections that arrived the other day are broader but not as deep (based on the truck's coordination) as the parts that arrived recently.

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/AshleyKillip/status/1844093500553560203

With all the new OLM parts showing up at Starbase thick and fast thankfully with
@RGVaerialphotos
 getting amazing overhead shots we can see what they have been cooking up. Still not sure if this monster will be "mobile" but something to remember is we wont need 2 large cranes like the first this will be done with SPMT's making it able to be swapped out easier in the future if needed.

[catdlr]

As you can see, based on these initial renders, the water Deluge Pancake plates seen on trucks will be placed on top of the launch mount.  In one of the pictures of the pancake deluge pictures, one of the parts was the curved inside portion.

The water deluge is on top of the OLM B mount in the orange area. This doesn't exclude the regular Flame Trench water deluge system, which should be installed permanently underneath and separate from this "Portable" mount.

When it arrives at the pad, this mount's water source will be hooked up like the one NASA uses for the MLP.

The purpose of the water deluge pancake plates is to cool the upper mount structure from the intense heat at launch.  Whether the pancake will be opened up to allow water to cascade into the launch mount hole and flow down into the flame trench has not been determined.