I create photorealistic renders of Starship and it's ground infrastructure to inspire people all around the world what amazing engineering can achieve.
Iowa, USA
Joined December 2020
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3D Printed 1:50 Starship Pad A Orbital Launch Mount
In honor of the last Starship launch from Pad A in a few days, here is a video teaser of my work-in-progress 3D printed Starbase Pad A OLM. This design features 21 servos to control the main functions of the mount and customizable software, providing some unique opportunities. Sound on to hear it in action!
Looking back at old photos on my phone from May of 2022 when I visited Starbase for the first time. You'll never guess who this is. They probably don't even remember doing this 😅
This is a great angle showing the curved tiles that have been used in the upper tile sections of the nose cone on Starship for years now. Starting with S41, curved tiles are now being used along the center of the cylindrical body to better protect against plasma digging into the tile seams and causing tile erosion on the top corners of tiles.
I will NEVER buy another Creality product ever again. This K1 max has been a piece of shit since the day I got it back in 2023 but I couldn't bring myself to admit it at the time.
I left it stock until last summer when I did a complete bed replacement and cartographer probe. This past summer I did new XY stepper motors and an X axis linear rail conversion to try and fix the remaining issues. I've invested hundreds of dollars into this printer and I still cannot get the X resonance graph to not look like garbage. I have scoured forums for information, replaced almost every part on X gantry, and tried every suggestion including spending hundreds of dollars on custom aluminum side panels and there are only marginal improvements.
I have been fighting with this printer since July and probably spent $900+ on parts. I've waited weeks for genuine parts to be shipped from halfway across the world and several additional weeks for custom parts to be manufactured. I have a really cool mostly designed 3D printed Starship project that haven't been able to do for months now due to this printer. I don't know what to do anymore besides shove it in a corner and buy something new.
I've swapped out every bolt woth idlers to be a shoulder bolt to remove play in the idlers. I've swapped out the X axis linear rail with a genuine HIWIN one. I've completely disassembled the frame and tightened all hardware. I've swapped out belts and stepper motors. I've bought tools to test belts and various other items. I'm completely out of ideas at this point.
Hoping Starship Flight 15 fits in my schedule so I can travel and attend the Rocket Ranch Outpost again for my first V3 launch!
3.7 miles: the distance from the Outpost to the launch mount.
Rocket Ranch guests watch launches from the Outpost, reached by shuttle. Look for the DON'T PANIC container.
Tag who you're bringing to Flight 15.
#Starship #SpaceX #Starbase #BocaChica #LaunchViewing
Nearly a month later I'm still troubleshooting the dynamics on this 3D printer. I've now spent $700+ on various parts and I've swapped individual components out one by one while running some tests. New linear rail on the X axis seemed to help slightly but I'm now thinking one of the stepper motors I purchased for the X axis gantry conversion has some issues. Couldn't find a supplier for the same stepper motor in the US so I had to order one internationally.
At every turn SpaceX has done the unexpected with S40. Never thought I'd see it vertical again, let alone get all the way back to Starbase. What an insane effort by all the teams! Let the inspections continue!
Take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. Welcome back Ship 40! -
📸: @LabPadre
Ryan Hansen Space retweeted
Job is finished! Ship 40 is securely on dry land in Texas one again, and Forte is getting underway to depart the port of Brownsville!
Not only is Starship in ORBIT for the first time, but it's deploying it's first operational payload in LEO. This is years in the making!
Starship has begun deploying its payload of 26 @Starlink V3 satellites. This deployment sequence will take ~30 minutes
About 12hrs away from the big one! Really excited for this launch. Really need B21 to make a controlled on-target splashdown to enable booster reuse before the end of the year. Hopefully I'll no longer have to hear "...but Starship can't even make it to orbit yet..." after tomorrow!
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → teapawt.org/i/broadcasts/1qxvvenMP…
Ryan Hansen Space retweeted
There are still tickets available! @Erdayastronaut will be broadcasting LIVE and in person from the bridge at The Outpost. This one is going to be one for the books!
Stream is UP for Monday's ORBITAL launch attempt of Starship for Flight 14! I'll be there in person just 4 miles away at Rocket Ranch Outpost and I can't WAIT for this historic mission! We'll go live at 6:00 a.m. Central [11:00 UTC], see you then!!! - youtube.com/live/LeKY53pwArw…
![[4K] Watch the FIRST Orbital Starship Mission!!!](https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/2112718489308041216/mJZ0Ukz2?format=jpg&name=800x320_1)
Pretty good explanation why only 3 grid fins are needed on Super Heavy V3! However, I disagree a bit regarding why the grid is tilted on the middle windward fin. Bonus fact, the two catch fins are installed with some rotational bias so that the middle of their range is actually tilted slightly with respect to the vehicle to provide more range of control while inducing pitch in flight.
Reassembled and the problem persisted. Still troubleshooting. Think it could be an issue with the X axis linear rail now. The journey continues. Eventually I'll have something that works as expected.
I see a lot of people making assumptions about Starship Flight 14 and the fact that it's not including a tower catch attempt for S41. Much of the talk revolves around SpaceX becoming nervous to perform a tower catch after I specting S40s TPS. While TPS performance is always a factor, here are my thoughts about what I think the larger driver is.
While they are learning a lot from S40, I don't think the delay for a catch is due to S40. The heat shield has proven that it is good enough for recovery but lacking in some places for reuse. I think the catch delay is more about testing the risks associated with a longer duration mission. Ships have not been in space for more than an hour so far. For a catch it will likely require 20+ hours. There are a lot of unknowns with the increased mission duration which create additional risks. I don't think it has much to do with additional tests for re-entry.
This is going to be a very exciting launch! You can tell by the mission design that SX really does care about the minimizing the risks to the public. Reflying tiles from S40 was somewhat unexpected given how difficult it is to remove tiles without breaking them. I have a feeling the tiles are from a removable panel on S40 that allows easy access to the backside for pin disengagement, possibly the static aero surface near the aft flaps. Hopefully the exact tiles are highlighted on the webcast. I have a really good feeling about the booster completing all of its milestones on this launch!
Starship is preparing to go to orbit. Flight 14 is targeting to launch as early as Tuesday, September 22, pending regulatory approval → spacex.com/launches/starship…
Been on a multi-month journey with this 3D printer. Discovered a design flaw with the X axis linear rail mod I installed back in July. Terrible resonance at 125Hz. Ordered some hardware from McMaster Carr to hopefully resolve it. Hopefully it's back together in the next few days.
Very excited to see Stoke demonstrate their Nova technology and expand on it in the future. The regen cooled heat shield is such a unique approach to solving the reentry problem compared to what we've seen historically.
Starship Pad 2 Launch Mount CSI Starbase Episode Alert!
It's been fun working on these thumbnails. Pad 2 has introduced some new challenges due to the deck deluge system. Requires a very carefully tuned simulations just to produce an image for a thumbnail!
Hey Starship Everyone!!!
Its time for Final Episode in the Stage Zero 2.0 Series!
To wrap up this investigation we will examine all of the issues that SpaceX encountered once they introduced Starship V3 to Its New Launch Pad. This will go significantly deeper into the things mentioned in SpaceX's Starship documentaries, along with everything they left out!
Join us for the premier at 7pm CST
youtube.com/watch?v=ASVpnu4l…
