The Ringwatchers Profile picture
Jul 14, 2023 16 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Ship 24.2. A confusing test article with a confusing name that has had a confusing life thus far. Today we’re going to talk about how SpaceX is planning to structurally verify the Starship Payload Bay, and why this monstrosity exists. (1/16)

🖼️ @ChameleonCir Image
Ship 24.2 will be a 7-ring tall article composed of 3 main sections: a top ring with a dome and 24 external attachment points, a Ship Payload Bay that features a PEZ dispenser rack, and a bottom ring with a hatch in the side. (2/16)

🖼️ @ChameleonCir
Knowing that this is a 7-ring tall test article, we were able to quickly determine that the newly reconfigured nosecone cage is the perfect height to support this. We’ll come back to this later. (3/16)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
The top ring generated a lot of speculation over the last few months, and while many believed it was related to the HLS lander or hot staging, both of these now seem unlikely. We think this is quite simply a testing interface. (4/16)

📸 @CosmicalChief for @FelixSchlang Image
This ring features a rusty plate on top with 4 attachment points on it, which seem randomly placed, but that’s almost never the case when it comes to these kinds of articles. So what do these line up with? (5/16)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
If we look at the “nosecone” cage in its updated configuration, we can see new piston mounts on the top. When placed in the model, they line up perfectly with that rusty plate. (6/16)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
While the 24 protrusions on the side do penetrate through the hull, their shape indicates that they may be some kind of pull-point for pistons. The cage was also modified to have possible piston mounts. (7/16)

📸 @CosmicalChief for @FelixSchlang, @RGVaerialphotos
However, it appears to just be 12 mounts on the cage. It’s unclear what this will look like, but they may be able to have 1 piston attach to 2 points or some other type of setup. While their purpose is still speculation, it doesn’t seem impossible. (8/16)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos
The dome could serve a couple of purposes. A likely possibility is that this may just be serving as a stand-in for a nosecone, allowing the volume to be lightly pressurized, and also adding some rigidity at the top. (9/16)

📸 @thejackbeyer for @NASASpaceflight
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
The bottom of the article would meet the flat surface that the cage base features, closing off the bottom as well. The low pressure does not necessarily need a dome, and the Payload Bay wouldn’t normally have a concave dome underneath anyway. (10/16)

🖼️ @ChameleonCir
The Payload Bay features a PEZ dispenser on the inside, and while it had a sliding door, it no longer does. Like Ship 28, a door could possibly be reinstalled, as both the seals and actuators remain. (11/16)

📸 @CosmicalChief for @FelixSchlang, @RGVaerialphotos
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
Finally, the bottom ring is a replica of the ring that would be below the Payload Bay (normally assembled with the Forward Dome). Notably, this ring and the pathfinder for the top ring came outside at the exact same time. (12/16)

📸 @LabPadre, @cnunezimages, @RGVaerialphotos
Speaking of timelines lining up, around the time some of these sections were in production, SpaceX was modifying the nosecone cage base with those 12 potential piston mounts from before. (13/16)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos
While the above is still speculation, there’s quite a bit of evidence to back this all up. Together, this should likely allow the Payload Bay to have both compressive and torsion forces applied to it, something that is crucial to make sure it will survive flight loads. (14/16)
Today’s thread was a bit longer, but S24.2 is a significant test article as SpaceX attempts to fly Starlink satellites on Starship. Maybe you agree with us, maybe you don’t. Either way, we’ll find out in due time, and it’ll be interesting if anything. (15/16)
As a side note, it’s been an adventure tracking these parts, and if you’d like us to go a bit deeper into some of the really strange stuff that happened while they were being produced to give a bit more background, let us know below. (16/16)

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More from @Ringwatchers

Jul 31, 2023
As SpaceX prepares to structurally qualify its new interstage design, intended to be used for hot staging, let’s look at the new parts that will be used for this, and what we can learn from these new parts. (1/12)

The test article at the Massey’s testing site is labelled the “Hot Stage Load Head”, and will be used to qualify the interstage against the aerodynamic forces it will experience during flight. There are 3 main components to this. (2/12)

🖼️ @ChameleonCir Image
The bottom barrel section is the old Booster 11 forward dome section that was reassigned to become a test article for this, seemingly back in January of this year, possibly suggesting when this design decision was made. (3/12)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos Image
Read 12 tweets
Jul 10, 2023
With this new photo from Elon Musk, there’s been a lot of discussion about what exactly we’re seeing. Today’s quick thread is going to go a bit deeper into what we can learn from this photo. (1/10)

For starters, let’s figure out the positioning of things. The Quick Disconnect is located in the upper right of the photo, and aft flaps can be identified from the frames the motors sit in. This means that the tiled side is on the lower left of this photo. (2/10)

📸 @elonmusk
We can immediately see the Hydraulic Power Unit that powers Ship 25’s Thrust Vector Control in the lower left of this image. Ship 25 is the last Starship to use this, as B9+ and S26+ use an electric TVC system. (3/10)

📸 @elonmusk
Read 10 tweets
Jun 17, 2023
Some interesting developments have been happening lately with Starship 28, with one of the major ones being the removal of its sliding Payload Bay door. Let’s take a closer look at how this was done, and what it could mean. (1/6)

📸 @CosmicalChief Image
On June 15th, crews attached a crane to Ship 28’s sliding door, and after somehow reorienting it inside of the vehicle, slid it out. We’ve included an animation of how it was removed if it’s hard to tell from the recording. (2/6)

📸 @NASASpaceflight
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
This is simply the sliding panel that we all see from the outside of the Ship. On Ship 28, you can see that it’s now missing, and what is likely related to the actuation mechanism can be seen hanging in the doorway. (3/6)

📸 @CosmicalChief
🖼️ @ChameleonCir
Read 6 tweets
Jun 11, 2023
Ship 25 has had quite a life so far, and it hasn’t even had its first static fire. Let’s take a look at why this Starship has been so confusing, why many thought it was retired, and how it’s different from Ship 24. (1/13)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos Image
@RGVaerialphotos Ship 25 was fully stacked in the Highbay on September 12th, 2022, and was moved to the Launch Complex for cryogenic testing on October 19th. It conducted 3 cryo tests, before being moved back to the Highbay to receive its engines. (2/13)

📸 @NASASpaceflight @LabPadre
@RGVaerialphotos @NASASpaceflight @LabPadre In the Highbay, all 6 engines were installed on Ship 25, and the PEZ Dispenser slot on the front was welded closed. Ship 25’s engines still use hydraulically-powered TVC, which changes to electric on Ship 26. (3/13)

📸 @LabPadre
Read 13 tweets
Jun 3, 2023
One of the major changes on Booster 10 is the beginning of the transition to using SpaceX’s new, flatter smooth domes. While the transition to using these smooth domes hasn’t been as smooth as many hoped, let’s take a closer look at this Super Heavy. (1/6)

📸 @CosmicalChief Image
@CosmicalChief August 18th, 2022 saw one of these new domes lifted onto the sleeving stand, and it was sleeved by a Booster common dome sleeve shortly thereafter. The common dome separates the CH4 and LOX tanks inside of the vehicle. (2/6)

🎥 @CosmicalChief @NicAnsuini
@CosmicalChief @NicAnsuini Prior to this change, the common dome looked like one of the normal older style domes, just with a hole in it for the massive CH4 transfer tube to pass through. (3/6)

📸 @CosmicalChief @RGVaerialphotos
Read 7 tweets
May 31, 2023
A nosecone, a dome section, and a handful of ring sections. These are among some unusual Starship parts that we have been following for quite a while now, that are widely speculated to be related to the HLS Lander. Let’s take a look at some of these. (1/21)

📸 @RGVaerialphotos Image
@RGVaerialphotos So, fair warning, this is going to be a long one, but a lot has been happening and while we wanted to get this out sooner in a more concise manner, every time we got close, some new paradigm-shifting piece would show up. (2/21)
@RGVaerialphotos We're going to be treading through some speculative ground, so be careful. People often get set on the coolest theory and forget that there may not be much backing it up. We don’t tend to do this, but as it turns out, it can be fun. (3/21)
Read 21 tweets

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