□ Not only has this booster aft dome sleeve got external stringers… it's made of four rings of around 4'6" rather than three rings 6' high. However, instead of the usual aft barrel section comprised of three six-foot-tall (~1.82m) steel rings, this ‘sleeve’ was made up of four ~1.4m-tall rings – the first time in Starbase history that shorter rings have appeared on any hardware. On December 21st, a Super Heavy thrust dome – likely Booster 7’s – was sleeved with several steel rings as part of a now-routine process, partially completing the first 33-engine thrust section. However, there are already signs of some weirder changes being made to Super Heavy’s design. ![]() There’s good reason to believe that some of the changes – especially expanding Starship’s nose barrel from four to five rings tall – will end up being applied to Super Heavy, potentially reducing the number of booster ‘sections’ needed from nine to seven or eight. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal) Starship’s new, more monolithic nose design. While obviously not a major redesign, the changes will significantly simplify (and thus potentially speed up) Starship assembly, which will have additional positive follow-on impacts on plumbing, wiring, and heat shield installation.Ī very informative diagram drawn on a pathfinder barrel in front of the high bay today shows the old Starship sections on the left and the new scheme on the right:ĩ:59 am 12/29/21 /C2kzeZdGXT- Starship Gazer DecemOld nose prototypes, September 2020. With the design changes sketched out on a Starship S24 ring and an upgraded nosecone that will debut on the same ship, fully assembling a nosecone will now take two or three stacks (down from five) and fully assembling a Starship will take six stacks (down from seven). Counting the nose as one, it takes about seven stack operations to fully assemble the basic structure of a Starship. It takes another five stacked sections to complete the current nosecone design. The changes are simple enough: in essence, SpaceX will be adding an extra ring to several Starship ‘sections.’ For current ships, six distinct sections are stacked to form the Starship’s cylindrical tankage and hull. This particular drawing was exceptionally detailed and useful, effectively showing exactly how Starship’s design will change beginning with Ship 24. Starbase ‘hieroglyphics’ are not uncommon, as SpaceX engineers and technicians have often used hardware itself as a sort of whiteboard to sketch out plans and literally annotate ongoing work. ![]() ![]() Musk’s confirmation of the methane header tank’s relocation came just a few days after a drawing on the side of a Starship section further confirmed several more minor design changes. Starship’s current nose and common dome header tanks. It’s possible that this change was planned before SpaceX realized the performance benefits of a stretched, nine-engine Starship, but it could also be a preemptive modification meant to counteract the added weight of three more Raptor engines and longer tanks. ![]() Now, the methane header tank will join it in the nose, with the obvious explanation being a need to shift that center of gravity even further forward. From the start, Starship’s oxygen header tank has been located in the very tip of the nose – placed in such an inconvenient location for the sole purpose of shifting Starship’s center of gravity forward. According to Musk, starting with Starship 24 (S24), which is likely the next ship SpaceX will complete, the methane (fuel) header tank will be relocated from Starship’s common dome to its nosecone.
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