I'm imagining camera guy and landing guy looking at each other and both saying, "You set the camera / you landed the booster... WHERE?"

What a beautiful launch, booster separation, etc. I'm a NASA brat, my dad class of '65 began working at NASA the day following his last final. Today is his wedding anniversary, what a cool way to celebrate

APR doesn't make turbines, they were the equivalent of a rental dealer. You need power, they bring it onsite for you. So SpaceX gets their fleet of gensets and the know how of deploying and running them.

Zobel said:

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APR doesn't make turbines, they were the equivalent of a rental dealer. You need power, they bring it onsite for you. So SpaceX gets their fleet of gensets and the know how of deploying and running them.

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Interesting, thx. I see a P&W logo on this one. I wonder about the $1 billion valuation involved.

SpaceX bought the turbine company, not Elon personally.

APR Energy’s trailer-mounted gas and diesel fleet can make more than 1 GW. Same class of units already runs at Colossus.

Power is the bottleneck. @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/zQhsuI0dq3

— Wessel van Keulen (@wesselvk) August 30, 2026

I assume the alloys (in addition to size) are dramatically different vs. turbopumps in Raptor/Merlin etc?

Ironically, Pratt has been involved in a pretty 'serious' dispute with Airbus over volumes they are offering to commit to for A32x aircraft looking ahead. They don't seem to have a capacity to rapidly scale up for SPCX either, imho. I think they do all of that out of Hartford, CT. Could easily be wrong, but that's not a 'business friendly' place to quickly grow/expand industrial production.

22k posts on this thread. This is the best thread on Texags and one of the best sources of information on the whole internet.

Shades on and batteries charging! 😎 🔋

Roman’s Solar Array Sun Shield and Lower Instrument Sun Shade have successfully deployed, powering the observatory and shading its instruments! https://t.co/RAUgaDDx0Z pic.twitter.com/9LVHCElTT7

— Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (@NASARoman) August 30, 2026

SpaceX's Crew-13 mission to the ISS is being delayed due to an oxidizer leak on Crew Dragon's propulsion system, NASA says.

New date is TBD. https://t.co/r5TRg31cty pic.twitter.com/r2r2WOuozm

— 🏳️‍🌈Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera (Alex) (@Alexphysics13) August 30, 2026

i think turbopumps use similar materials. not super different, but not the same. they operate a vacuum investment casting foundry in california already for raptor. the moat in gas turbines is production capacity and the knowhow to make robust designs. im not saying raptor is not hard because it clearly is, but its a very different kind of problem to make an engine that runs a few times for a few minutes each and one that runs for 32k hours or 1500 starts reliably. doesn't mean they cant do it, just means it will take time.

for pratt / supply chains - put something here to not derail further. short story is pratt doesn't make their own blades / vanes (they're trying to build a facility to do so in asheville but from what i hear it isnt going well).

BREAKING: SpaceX gets approval for 444 acres near the Port of Brownsville, clearing the way for a major expansion.

The city also approved a major infrastructure agreement with SpaceX:

• Up to $220 million for regional water and wastewater projects
• An initial $40 million… pic.twitter.com/B2CKifnLXn

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 30, 2026

Love that

Cajuns are super happy.

I grew up 90 minutes from Pecan Island, LA as a born and raised Cajun in Lafayette 28 years ago.

I left because South Louisiana had no deep-tech path for me. @ULLafayette gave me my pre-med degree. To become a biomedical engineer I had to pack my bags for @CUBoulder to get my… pic.twitter.com/5rKVKOjUvc

— Nate Kent 𝕏 (@nathanperrodin) August 29, 2026

Quote:

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I grew up 90 minutes from Pecan Island, LA as a born and raised Cajun in Lafayette 28 years ago.

I left because South Louisiana had no deep-tech path for me.
@ULLafayette
gave me my pre-med degree. To become a biomedical engineer I had to pack my bags for
@CUBoulder
to get my masters in biomedical engineering. Denver had become a biotech hub that I was wanting to get into because my home state did not have the industry for me to be apart of.

Louisiana trained me. Another state got the benefit.

That has been the story for far too long for the boot. We raise computer scientists, mechanical, electrical, and biomedical engineers; then Texas, Colorado, California, New York, etc. hire them. We had the oil, the minerals, the talent, and the extractive industries. Other states benefitted off of them.

Louisiana has been used to benefit other economies without companies and industries investing in our own state.

That landscape just changed.

Governor
@JeffLandry
and
@SpaceX
have announced Starbase Louisiana on the coast at Pecan Island. $100 billion investment in the state. The largest investment in this state's history. Ten Starship pads on ~125,000 acres. Construction in 2027. First launch targeted for 2029. At least 3,000 direct jobs at ~$92,600, nearly double the parish average, plus 8,000+ adjacent jobs.
@elonmusk
has said the real number is closer to 10,000.

Despite what you might think, this is not just rockets over the Gulf. It is welders, technicians, engineers, and operators building the infrastructure for routine access to space.

In addition, a project this size does not stay a spaceport. It pulls energy, software, logistics, other deep tech, housing, and advanced manufacturing behind it. Welders who built pipelines will build launch infrastructure. Universities that used to export talent will feed a local industry. That is how a launch site becomes a multi-decade tech boom, and why Louisiana's economy will not look the same in 20 years.

I did not come back home to watch it. I came home to build in it, and I am all in.

Kids in Abbeville, Kaplan, Lafayette, and Pecan Island will grow up watching Starships leave their own coast. They will not have to leave home to work on the frontier.

The Louisiana Purchase stretched America from sea to shining sea. This stretches humanity toward the stars we look at every night. This turns our civilization into a Kardashev Type II civilization.

And the marsh is not an afterthought. This coast has been disappearing for decades in places 3 to 23 feet a year. We currently can not afford to save it alone. SpaceX is partnering with the state on the Coastal Master Plan: shoreline protection, marsh creation, wildlife habitat. $25 million to the Community Foundation of Acadiana. Parish payments projected over $820 million across 25 years. First work on the ground includes the shoreline.

If you care about this ecosystem, read the actual commitments before you write it off or protest against what this means for our great state.

South Louisiana has the workforce, the work ethic, and the skillset. What we lacked was a reason for the next generation to stay. This is that reason.

Thank you
@LAGovJeffLandry

@elonmusk

@SpaceX
for betting on Cajun country.

The next kid from Lafayette should not have to leave to build the future.

---

That was inspiring, geez. If anyone in Louisiana could read I'm sure they would be motivated as hell.

Zobel said:

---

i think turbopumps use similar materials. not super different, but not the same. they operate a vacuum investment casting foundry in california already for raptor. the moat in gas turbines is production capacity and the knowhow to make robust designs. im not saying raptor is not hard because it clearly is, but its a very different kind of problem to make an engine that runs a few times for a few minutes each and one that runs for 32k hours or 1500 starts reliably. doesn't mean they cant do it, just means it will take time.

for pratt / supply chains - put something here to not derail further. short story is pratt doesn't make their own blades / vanes (they're trying to build a facility to do so in asheville but from what i hear it isnt going well).

---

It's been a while since I talked with the design team, but I believe Merlin's turbopump impeller is Inconel 620.

Just a tad hyperbolic there, Nate.

double aught said:

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Just a tad hyperbolic there, Nate.

---

Louisiana is the new capitol of the world!!!!!

double aught said:

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Just a tad hyperbolic there, Nate.

---

He's not wrong.
Up until now how much of the Louisiana Bayou country was just eeking out a marginal barely above subsistence lifestyle?

Jokes aside, yes you could go to college there and presumably get a descent education, but there was no heavy industry or research base to truly keep you there. As he stated, you did the bachelors work there and left for your graduate work and subsequent career.

Now how much of the work that will be done there will be advanced trades vs research done at other places certainly remains to be seen. Either way it will be an economic impact like that area has likely never seen.

Decay said:

---

double aught said:

---

Just a tad hyperbolic there, Nate.

---

Louisiana is the new capitol of the world!!!!!

---

No, that would be Terafab Texas -

SpaceX applied for orbital launch with FCC of V3 sats.

SpaceX has officially requested FCC approval to launch @Starlink V3 satellites into orbit for the first time on Starship’s test flight 14.

"The new satellites are designed to support over 10x the capacity of current Starlink satellites, bringing Americans unprecedented… https://t.co/VmN3rvkiM5 pic.twitter.com/qS5xYZnc0m

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 31, 2026

Ruh roh! It is happening!

I just don't think the space coast cadence is going to decrease in significance. Hopefully Artemis is retired by 2029.

Florida’s coast is turning into a wall of launch pads.

SpaceX has 3 today. After Falcon 9 retires, it could have 4.

When SLS is retired after Artemis, LC-39B could become America’s most contested launch pad.

Own the future. Own the pads. Own space. pic.twitter.com/iEuUjz0qh7

— Lunar Citizen (@LunarCitizens) August 31, 2026

I'm in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, right now and spent the morning touristing around their incredible Soviet-opulent metro stations (as one does). One of the stations has murals of famous cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin as well as a mural celebrating the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

Next Super Heavy launch around Sept. 15? Coming up soon.

SpaceX filed a request with the FCC today that states Tuesday September 15th 2026 is the planned launch date/deployment date for new high-capacity orbital Starlink satellites via Starship Test Flight 14; confirming flight 14 is planned to be the first orbital Starship launch.… pic.twitter.com/mZ9iP72fDw

— Starship Gazer (@StarshipGazer) September 1, 2026

10 years ago

tk for tu juan said:

---

10 years ago

---

"We literally thought someone had shot the rocket, "Musk [stated in an interview, as reported by the Washington Post. Investigators noticed marks resembling bullet holes on nearby structures and calculated that a high-powered rifle shot could theoretically trigger a similar failure. This heightened suspicions given the intense rocket rivalry with United Launch Alliance (ULA) at the time.

SpaceX pressured federal authorities, including the FAA and the Air Force, to look into the outside-force and sabotage angles. Ultimately, no evidence of a gunman or foul play was found. SpaceX recreated the anomaly and determined it was a self-inflicted internal failure caused by a helium tank breach rather than an external attack.

Not a good day. I woke up to a phone call from Joe Kenahan telling me that “the rocket is gone.” We had no idea what happened for a few weeks. We had a war room set up in HT01 where we had high speed plots and video frame stills taped to the wall in chronological order, zoomed in…

— Jon Edwards (@edwards345) September 1, 2026

zoomed in to the order of milliseconds.

We used accelerometer data to triangulate the origin of the failure, similar to what we did for the CRS-7 investigation. To our surprise it pointed to a similar location near the lox tank COPVs. It took weeks of testing to replicate the failure and when we did, it was a strange mix of feeling overjoyed that we figured it out and extremely sad that we didn't prevent the failure in the first place.

That said, shooting COPVs from a mile away with a long-range .50-caliber rifle was pretty cool. Thankfully we were able to close that branch of the fault tree

People taking pot shots at a rocket may be a possibility in Louisiana.

Amazing advancement since that accident and for the next ten years

BREAKING 🚨: NASA has picked Blue Origin to build and launch its Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter under a contract worth up to $700 million

The spacecraft will orbit Mars and relay science data, imagery, and navigation for missions on and around the planet pic.twitter.com/AJH6D7AAQW

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) September 1, 2026

will25u said:

---

BREAKING 🚨: NASA has picked Blue Origin to build and launch its Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter under a contract worth up to $700 million

The spacecraft will orbit Mars and relay science data, imagery, and navigation for missions on and around the planet pic.twitter.com/AJH6D7AAQW

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) September 1, 2026

---

Did SpaceX even bid? Can't imagine how they would lose to Blue Origin when BO doesn't even have a rocket to launch and has commitments to lunar missions it can't complete right now.

txags92 said:

---

will25u said:

---

BREAKING 🚨: NASA has picked Blue Origin to build and launch its Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter under a contract worth up to $700 million

The spacecraft will orbit Mars and relay science data, imagery, and navigation for missions on and around the planet pic.twitter.com/AJH6D7AAQW

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) September 1, 2026

---

Did SpaceX even bid? Can't imagine how they would lose to Blue Origin when BO doesn't even have a rocket to launch and has commitments to lunar missions it can't complete right now.

---

Government loves competition.

Somewhat explain to me what BO has done to make you even think they can do this. I'll hang up and listen.

Boca Chica Beach is one of Starbase’s greatest assets, and we take our responsibility to protect it seriously. Last month, 12.1 tons of debris left by visitors were removed from the shoreline, including four car tires and a 5,000-gallon water tank.

We are proud that the beach is… pic.twitter.com/K26cRItxCW

— StarbaseTX (@StarbaseTX) September 1, 2026

They really are good stewards.

Mathguy64 said:

---

Somewhat explain to me what BO has done to make you even think they can do this. I'll hang up and listen.

---

They've shown Nasa they aren't afraid to file a lawsuit

techno-ag said:

---

Boca Chica Beach is one of Starbase’s greatest assets, and we take our responsibility to protect it seriously. Last month, 12.1 tons of debris left by visitors were removed from the shoreline, including four car tires and a 5,000-gallon water tank.

We are proud that the beach is… pic.twitter.com/K26cRItxCW

— StarbaseTX (@StarbaseTX) September 1, 2026

They really are good stewards.

---

Are they having somebody check the beach for turtle nests during that part of the season. Hate to see a tractor running down the beach if there might still be nests out there. Though they may have hatched out by now.

techno-ag said:

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txags92 said:

---

will25u said:

---

BREAKING 🚨: NASA has picked Blue Origin to build and launch its Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter under a contract worth up to $700 million

The spacecraft will orbit Mars and relay science data, imagery, and navigation for missions on and around the planet pic.twitter.com/AJH6D7AAQW

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) September 1, 2026

---

Did SpaceX even bid? Can't imagine how they would lose to Blue Origin when BO doesn't even have a rocket to launch and has commitments to lunar missions it can't complete right now.

---

Government loves competition.

---

Believe me, I know. But they typically look at whether your company has the resources to handle the new contract requirements on top of your existing commitments. BO has shown nothing to indicate that they have those resources. But if SpaceX is truly pivoting to data centers and AI, they may not have even bid for this one, though with Mars involved, I would think that is unlikely.

I don’t understand why the comments are so surprised by 9x4’s volume, especially since it has been public for a while now. Of course, the V4 Starship will be taller, but we don’t yet know what the usable payload volume will be.

V3 numbers were calculated by my awesome friend… https://t.co/fOBT2DiLqf pic.twitter.com/IscFHVZRJR

— Chandler G (@Echo5550) September 1, 2026