Latest at Starbase with LabPadre: Sept 25

STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Wrapping up the rest of this week's update, in between the static fire attempts and other Launch Pad events, we saw pressure tests at the Massey outpost, new booster hardware also emerged, and the construction of the air separation plant continues.

After the seemingly successful static fire on Monday, ship 38 was moved off the launch mount and transported back to the build site for post-test analysis.

A new stainless steel sub-assembly was spotted during transport to the ring yard.

A new assembly, an apparent new design of header or storage tank for super heavy block three, was brought into Mega Bay one.

A four-barrel ring section with a dome was brought out of the star factory and sent over to Sanchez for scrapping.

This segment seems to be a prototype of the Starship Block Three aft end with several notable changes.

The power head for the vacuum raptor engines has been partially recessed into the lower liquid oxygen tank dome, and the base of the dome has been flattened to raise the height of the sea level engines.

This will make the skirt section shorter, decreasing the dry mass of the ship while increasing the length of the propellant tanks.

Early on Friday morning, booster 18's long-awaited aft section was rolled out of Star Factory, giving the first look at the first part of block three, super heavy.

The partially assembled liquid oxygen header tank can be viewed in the center.

Outside of the tank, subsystems and plumbing lines can be seen wrapping around the bottom of the segment

After going through the ring yard, the tank was brought into Mega Bay for final assembly.

Concrete Work is also underway at the air separation plant site.

Crews are making good progress on the groundwork, with the foundations of protective concrete walls coming together.

The Massey outpost test article B, 18.1, went through a battery of five cryo tests, cycling through several load pressurization, depress, and de-tanking rounds throughout the week.

On the fifth test of the week, and its 11th test overall, the tank sprang a leak and began pushing out a cloud of cold nitrogen.

In a post on X, Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX is getting a new marine asset for transporting ships and boosters from Starbase to the Cape.

A break-over structure will be used to lay the ships and boosters horizontally for the trip.

The FAA has published a draft environmental assessment for additional launch and landing corridors from the Starbase.

The two newly proposed flight paths cross over land, passing over Florida in the northern path, and the Cayman Islands and Jamaica on the more southern route.

A landing corridor is also shown for Starship crossing over Mexico before coming into South Texas and landing back at the launch site.

In another indication that ship 38 static fire was a success, a notice to mariners was issued on Tuesday, placing flight 11 in the second week of October with another evening launch.

Stay tuned to LabPadre for continued live coverage and other detailed Starbase content. Visit the LabPadre YouTube channel or LabPadre.com.