SpaceX has begun stacking a new portion of the first Super Heavy prototype in the latest sign that work on the boosters is accelerating, which will soon have the task of elevating Starships from Earth’s atmosphere.
Local photographer and NASASpaceflight.com subsidiary Mary (also known as BocaChicaGal) posted the latest photo of Super Heavy production activity on January 24, capturing a section of four welded steel rings slid into SpaceX’s ‘high bay’ . This is the second time a visible progress has been made in the Super Heavy Amplifier this week after a full month of relative inactivity – strong evidence that work is starting to accelerate.
The latest addition to SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas rocket factory, is 81 meters long and was built primarily to support the process of vertical stacking, welding, integration of Super Heavy boosters, and provides a space protected from the worst of the often temperamental Boca. Chica area. SpaceX also uses the facility for the final assembly of Starships and uses its height to protect the installation of the nose section.
Starship prototype serial number 10 (SN10), for example, is the latest installment of Super Heavy booster number 1 (BN1) to reach the integration stage and is virtually complete. SN10 is likely to be ready to leave the highway to SpaceX’s adjacent launch and test facilities at any time, depending on when the company decides the time is right. Meanwhile, Starship SN11 is on track to start the nose section as soon as SN10 vacates its spot in the high bay.
However, Super Heavy BN1 will probably have a few more weeks of assembly and processing ahead of time before SpaceX will be ready to prepare the amplifier for what CEO Elon Musk described as a short 150m hop.
Currently, SpaceX is building BN1 in two separate sections. Recently, the front tank of the booster received another four-ring section, which climbed to 12 rings and left only one section (the common dome assembly) left before the basic structure of the first Super Heavy methane tank was completed. The rings heading into the high bay on January 24 are likely to support the start of the Super Heavy BN1 oxygen composition and start the bottom ‘half’ of the booster.
