Yesterday morning, SpaceX rolled Booster 9 and, later within the evening, raised the huge booster onto the Orbital Launch Mount.
That is the primary time a booster has been joined along with the launch pad for the reason that April twentieth Integrated Flight Test of Starship. It’s unknown how long the booster will remain atop the launch mount for its test campaign. Each Ship 25 and Booster 9 at the moment are together on the launch site for the primary time to undergo testing since being picked for the subsequent test in May.
Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 transported to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for testing ahead of flight pic.twitter.com/fF6U13thzs
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2023
Because the IFT test and its unplanned excavation, SpaceX has been busy across the clock with repairs and upgrades to the launch mount, orbital tank farm and, water deluge system. The corporate continues to be within the means of repairing the world but has clearly made enough progress to start testing Booster 9 ahead of its flight test in the approaching months.
Probably the most noticeable difference to the launch pad has been the installation of the water deluge system, which incorporates a steel plate with holes cut at different angles to cover a wider area with water. The system is analogous to a shower head, albeit with rather more power behind it. It was first tested on July seventeenth and is assumed to only be a partial test.
There may very well be a full test of the system next week as SpaceX has closures scheduled for the twenty third through the twenty fifth and a possible static fire on deck for Booster 9.
Take a look at these amazing shots of the Booster 9 Raptor engines from Jack Beyer of NSF!
Super Heavy Booster’s 33 Raptor engines. Looking so clean! @NASAspaceflight pic.twitter.com/NNxdrTeTgS
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) July 21, 2023
While there continues to be work to be done ahead of a flight test, this has been quite an incredible pace for SpaceX to repair and start testing of the launch mount and associated systems.
Meanwhile, during this, SpaceX has only recently performed a cryogenic proof test of Booster 10 on the Masseys Test Facility and this morning moved Ship 28 to Masseys to start its cryogenic proof test campaign. Back on the production site, Ship 27 has been cut in half, to be scrapped.