So there's a real fun mystery around Superheavy's upgraded gridfins for Block 2 and 3. Possibly even a new shape.

A quick thread compiling our theories and the evidence for them 🧵 Earlier today the FAA published a PDF regarding Starship's environmental review progress. in this PDF, we get the highest available resolution render that we have gotten so far of the new Starship vehicle.
() faa.gov/media/88746

Here's a bunch of emails within the FWS regarding Starship. They are really not beating the allegations that the agency is incredibly incompetent. A short thread These were all acquired via FOIA

SpaceX's first true Human Landing System prototype.
A structure shrouded in mystery that has been sitting at Starbase for over a year.

Today, that shroud is lifted. This is the interior of the prototype, featuring things such as crew bunks, life support, control panels, ect. 🧵 First off I shall proceed with the fact that none of this is final. This is a PROTOTYPE to demonstrate the basic functionality of a few HLS systems. The equivalent of a sub-scale mockup.
All equipment is subject to be in different locations on the actual flight vehicle.

Internet drama. We're all familiar with it. Highly petty claims and such. So let's just get straight into the point, addressing each and every one of these claims (thread below) I don't like petty drama. You, the viewer, probably don't either. So let's not get in this situation again in the first place.

In a very odd turn of events, the vessel Hos Ridgewind does indeed appear to be attempting to recover portions of Booster 11.

Hos Ridgewind is at the splashdown point of B11 and has been for the past four days. 🧵 The vessel left Port Isabel weeks ago. During that departure they seemed to be stationary about 15km offshore. Seemingly a training exercise of what is currently occurring. During that exercise, divers were on the manifest

Bunking? Debunking? What would you call this? I dunno, but this image is real, and here's a thread as to why;

Right so obviously there has been a TON of discussion on this image, when it is, if it's even real, where it's from, ect. Here's all the details I've noticed; 🧵 A quick little note here, as both a 3D artist and a photographer, I think my opinion here is pretty credible, I'm well versed in literally just how light works and interacts with things, how one could edit a photo, how things that may not be immediately obvious to others get missed. It's a slightly complex interaction but there's certain telltale signatures and attention to detail on super small things that make it impossible or near impossible to fabricate entirely, or to fabricate in a believable manner.

But I do ask that you do NOT take anything in here as absolute fact. This is my take on this and I HIGHLY advise looking at the evidence yourself.

Starship Flight Four;
Hotstaging adapter separation

A brief thread as to why this decision was made, and the implications for Starship Block 2 🧵 Starting off with a HUGE thank you to @Echo_333333 for contributing his Superheavy model for the interstage separation scene, He's an incredibly talented hard-surface modeler, Go follow him to see more of his work.

My take on @SpaceX's "Starship 2" vehicle upgrades.

A full analysis of the SpaceX graphics, the rights, the wrongs, and improvisations it took to come to this point. 🧵👇

If you have any questions feel free to ask, I will be responding to as many of you as possible, as always. This is SpaceX's official representation of the upgraded vehicle. You'll notice many factors as part of the vehicle, more notably the hotstaging ring design, forward flaps, engine shielding, and gridfins, among other things.

Starship heat tiles under a microscope. A thread 🧵
(Massive thank you to @RGVaerialphotos for handing these tile fragments out to team members!)
1/6👇 @RGVaerialphotos @SpaceX @ColeWZY @DJEsmeraldMusic Starting off on the ceramic black side. Not much notable on the smoother surfaces. However, on some eroded dimples in the surface, we can see an opening into the tile. 2/6

A few people have asked how the water deluge plates with manifolds will be installed under the OLM. Here’s a quick thread with an explanation
(1/5) @RGVaerialphotos @ColeWZY @DJEsmeraldMusic @FelixSchlang @SpaceX @CaptinD2sr2 2 of the 3 manifolds have rolled out to the Launch site this morning, while the large center plate was installed yesterday. These will be installed in the coming days.
(Photo via @LabPadre )
(2/5)

Starship Hotstaging
A THREAD
Compiled by @mcrs987, inspired by @JoshLoweSpace
This thread shows my current theory on how Starship will hostage, using existing hardware we can see.
This was announced yesterday, so the majority of this is speculation
(1/24) @JoshLoweSpace @SpaceX @MiniGCyt @DJEsmeraldMusic @RGVaerialphotos @FelixSchlang @MarcusHouse @Ringwatchers So let’s start off by completely ignoring this ring. This ring is what a lot of people think is for hot staging. I think contrary, for 3 main reasons. (Image via @tdsn19)
(2/24)