This SpaceX Status Report is updated throughout the day.
Boca Chica, Texas
SN8 – Testing Schedule
- Rescheduled – Primary Date – October 4, 2020 – 9:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.
- Rescheduled – Secondary Date – October 5, 2020 – 9:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.
- Rescheduled – Secondary Date – October 6, 2020 – 9:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m.
Starship Status
- SN5 – High-Bay
- 09/19/2020 – Moved into the High-Bay.
- 08/26/2020 – Moved out of the Mid-Bay to make room for SN8 stacking.
- 08/04/2020 – Milestone – 150m hop test successfully completed.
- SN6 – High-Bay
- 09/19/2020 – Moved into the High-Bay.
- 09/12/2020 – Moved out of Mid-Bay.
- 09/03/2020 – 150m hop test successfully completed.
- 08/26/2020 – Mass simulator installed.
- 08/23/2020 – Static fire test successfully executed at 7:44 pm CT (00:44 UTC).
- 08/18/2020 – Raptor engine SN29 installed.
- 08/16/2020 – Ambient and cryo tests completed successfully.
- SN8 – Test Stand A
- 09/26/2020 – Transported to Test Stand A.
- 09/22/2020 – The second Rear Body Flap installed.
- 09/22/2020 – Milestone – First fin installed!
- 09/22/2020 – Moved out of the Mid-Bay into the shipyard.
- 09/15/2020 – Aero cover installed
- 09/13/2020 – Rear fins delivered to mid-bay.
08/29/2020 – Stacked to the usual “full” level. - 08/27/2020 – Stacking thrust section in the Mid-Bay.
- 08/21/2020 – Thrust section and top section stacked.
- 08/15/2020 – The thrust section was flipped.
- SN9 – Mid-Bay
- 09/27/2020 – Forward dome stacked.
- 09/20/2020 – Forward dome with Tesla batteries, stacking guides, and other hardware installed spotted in the shipyard.
- 09/13/2020 – Note: I see no evidence of external “plumbing” on SN8 as of yet.
- 09/13/2020 – Three-ring stack probably part of the tank section with heat tile mounting points spotted.
- 09/13/2020 – The thrust section was flipped.
- 09/13/2020 – First ring section moved into the mid-bay for stacking.
- 09/04/2020 – Trust dome has been sleeved.
- 08/28/2020 – Forward dome sleaved with a ring stack that includes heat shield tile mounts.
- 08/15/2020 – Common dome has been sleeved.
- SN10 – Under construction
- 09/09/2020 – The forward dome was sleaved with a four-ring stack. All of the previous upper bulkheads have been sleeved with a three-ring stack.
- 09/04/2020 – Thrust puck and fuel downcomer delivered.
- SN11 – Under construction
- 09/20/2020 – Common Bulkhead spotted
- 09/14/2020 – Thrust puck and fuel downcomer delivered.
- 09/09/2020 – Aft dome section spotted in the shipyard.
- SH1 – Super Heavy Booster – Under construction
- 09/28/2020 – Lox Stack – 4 spotted in the shipyard.
- 09/22/2020 – Milestone – First Super Heavy booster Common Barrel Assembly spotted in the shipyard.
- 09/02/2020 – The first Super-Heavy booster (Per Elon Musk).
Facilities Status
- Low-Bay
- A fully stacked nosecone assembly inside the bay.
- Three other nosecone assemblies, two reinforced five-ring stacks, a pair of forward aerodynamic surfaces, and various other components in various stages of completion are in the immediate area.
- Mid-Bay – SN9
- High-Bay – SN5, SN6 – Roof under construction
- Test Stand A – SN8
- Thrust simulator installed.
- Test Stand B – Empty – Under construction
- Orbital Launch Mount – Under construction
- 9/28/2020 – Started filling legs with concrete.
- 9/12/2020 – All columns have been sleeved.
- Landing Pad – Empty
- Old Gas Well – On-site methane (CH4) propellant production?
- 9/26/2020 – A large Liebherr LR1600/2 crane is being assembled in this area. Prediction – Probably for the installation of a wind turbine to power liquid methane (CH4) and oxygen (O2) production.
- 9/26/2020 – A tank was moved from the launch complex tank farm to the old gas well site.
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), Kennedy Space Center
Starlink 12 – SpaceX
- Update – October 1, 2020, 9:17 am EDT (1317 UTC)
- Falcon B1058.3 – Third flight of this booster. The booster was first used on the Crew Demo 2 mission.
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch the 13th batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. This will bring the total number of Starlink satellites to ~691.
Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
GPS 3 SV04 – United States Air Force
- Update – October 2/3, 2020, 9:43 pm-9:58 pm EDT (0143-0158 UTC)
- A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch the fourth, third-generation navigation satellite for the Global Positioning System (GPS). The satellite is built by Lockheed Martin.
News and Commentary
ENGINEERING TODAY – SpaceX Crew Dragon: SpaceX speeds up NASA Astronauts training to ride the Dragon
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