For the second time in two weeks, SpaceX has rolled out a ‘Starship-derived’ fuel tank to the next-generation rocket’s first launch platform, which has continued a recent eruption of construction activity.
Exactly two weeks ago, SpaceX rolled the first of those massive propellant tanks (GSE) on the dirt road, 1.5 kilometers from its Boca Chica rocket factory, to a nearby launch site. Built with the same parts, facilities and equipment as the aircraft-worthy Starship prototypes, SpaceX’s plans to build grounded storage tanks from rocket parts range from less than two months from an overall surprise to the initial delivery of hardware.
Two weeks later, SpaceX has already completed the second of at least seven similar or identical tanks that could store enough propellant for two consecutive revolutions of Starship – and a third ‘GSE’ tank is just a week or so behind.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, SpaceX’s decision to use a literal rocket factory to power storage tanks is surprisingly familiar with some reasonable assumptions.
SpaceX effectively adopts interchangeable Starship parts, adjusts a handful of them, and turns a rocket into a propellant storage tank. This is important because relative to all other rockets in history, including SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 and Heavy, storage tanks with unaltered rockets would be built on a rocket assembly line. much like hiring Vincent van Gogh to paint track lines.
The existence of self-built fuel storage tanks is virtually identical to airworthy Starship aircraft frames anything but guarantees that SpaceX is already building Starships for a few million dollars each – and possibly much less.‘
Teslarati.com – 6 April 2021
Apart from being potentially dirt-cheap large storage tanks that SpaceX only guarantees, but Starship and its Super Heavy boosters can produce for pennies against the dollar of any other rocket in history, SpaceX is fast showing that it can build a lot of them – and fast. Parts of Starship prototypes SN17 to SN20 and Super Heavy boosters BN2 and BN3 are still dripping from SpaceX’s factory and Starship SN16 is gradually progressing to completion to take over wherever SN15 leaves.
However, at least a majority of SpaceX’s focus seems to be on mass-producing propellant storage tanks as quickly as possible to prepare Starship’s orbit – deep in construction – for flight tests involving Super Heavy. Just last month, following a report from NASASpaceflight.com, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX plans to launch Starship’s first launch on a Super Heavy booster as early as July 2021 – just three months from now – to tackle.
For obvious reasons, the odds are firmly stacked against SpaceX’s attempt to launch Starship’s first orbital launch just a few months from now, although such an attempt will still be extremely impressive if it happens in 2021. To make even an extraordinarily ambitious effort, SpaceX will have to complete at least a ‘rough’ of its planned runway launch complex, including at least four Starship-style GSE tanks.
To that end, GSE Tank # 3 (GSE-3) is more than half complete and parts of the GSE-4 are up and running, which probably means that SpaceX will have enough installed fuel storage capacity to launch an attempt at Starship to a job of less than a month from now. It remains to be seen whether SpaceX will work through tanks 5 to 7 after completing 3 and 4, or whether the focus will shift back to prototype production by Starship and Super Heavy.
Either way, SpaceX is wasting no time building a brand new super-heavy launch platform and a tank farm that has never been seen before. We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes Starship and Super Heavy to catch up.