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posted by janrinok on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the it-is-but-a-scratch dept.

On February 28, SpaceX's SN01 Starship prototype imploded and exploded during a pressurization test (Mk1 failed in November). A day later, Eric Berger from Ars Technica visited SpaceX's facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. Some highlights from the story include:

  • SN01 was not destined to fly, only to serve as a platform for static fire testing. (Elon Musk had previously tweeted that the wrong settings were used on the welding equipment used to build SN01.)
  • SN01's failure has been attributed to bad welding on the thrust puck, which is welded onto the bottom tank dome of Starship and connects the Raptor engines to the rest of the rocket.
  • The quality team raised concerns about the thrust puck to an engineer who did not act upon them. They have been instructed to contact Musk directly with design concerns.
  • SpaceX went on a hiring spree in February that doubled its workforce in Boca Chica to over 500. The goal is to build a production line for Starships.
  • SpaceX aims to build a Starship every week by the end of 2020, with a goal of building one every 72 hours eventually.
  • SpaceX engineers have built an in-house x-ray machine to look for imperfections in welds.
  • Construction costs for a single Starship could eventually drop to as low as $5 million.
  • The Boca Chica site will operate 24/7, with workers alternating between three and four 12-hour shifts per week.
  • A 20 km flight is planned for this spring, and an orbital mission could happen before the end of 2020.

In other news:


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @11:54PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @11:54PM (#969346)

    5 Million? That much could buy about 1/16th of an F-35A.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday March 11 2020, @12:01AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday March 11 2020, @12:01AM (#969348) Journal

    The F-35 pilot's helmet costs $400,000.

    The Vision Systems International helmet display is a key piece of the F-35's human-machine interface. Instead of the head-up display mounted atop the dashboard of earlier fighters, the HMDS puts flight and combat information on the helmet visor, allowing the pilot to see it no matter which way he or she is facing. Infrared and night vision imagery from the Distributed Aperture System can be displayed directly on the HMDS and enables the pilot to "see through" the aircraft. The HDMS allows an F-35 pilot to fire missiles at targets even when the nose of the aircraft is pointing elsewhere by cuing missile seekers at high angles off-boresight. Each helmet costs $400,000. The HMDS weighs more than traditional helmets, and there is concern that it can endanger lightweight pilots during ejection.

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