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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

This is going to be one heck of an episode for the docu series!

Everyone freaking out about their accounts getting locked for posting pictures of proprietary rocket technology protected by ITAR is hilarious. Like what did you all expect to happen? Yes, it's SpaceXs fault for allowing it to be photographed in the first place, but they have every right to want those images removed from X. Even if they didn't own X they could still use the proper methods to flag content and have it taken down.

Assuming this means no Starship catch attempt on Flight 14, I wonder how much of this decision is related to risk calculation opposed to hardware readiness. If it's not purely about the hardware being ready, its possible that one factor is the desire for another launch pad to be closer to completion before risking the only currently operational launch pad. Historically I haven't really subscribed to this idea, but after LC36 and New Glenn I think it might be a larger consideration. Starship basically has to belly flop over critical GSE hardware before the flip and burn which introduces some risk. Unless I'm mistaken with all the fine details, I think a Super Heavy catch actually presents less risk to the launch infrastructure due to the return trajectory and translation to the tower. So if B21 performs a perfect soft splashdown on Flight 14, it's possible that we see a Super Heavy catch attempt on Flight 15. Unsure if SpaceX would be confident enough to attempt a catch of both stages on the same flight but that could make Flight 15 and 16 more interesting.

Not exactly "in its natural habitat..." But this is so cool to see! Definitely took a beating during the tow but she's still floating!

This is crazy cool! The tiles look very good even after the higher aerodynamic ascent!